The pressure on today’s executives is relentless. Mounting risks, shifting regulations and emerging technologies mean the stakes have never been higher. That’s why thousands of directors, senior decision-makers, and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) professionals are turning to the 

These high-impact, fully digital events deliver expert insights, practical tools and a global peer network, which helps leaders stay agile and get more from the technology and systems they rely on every day.

Registration is now open for our next event:

Diligent Compliance in Action Virtual Summit

6 reasons to join the Diligent Virtual Summit Series

Every summit in the series brings together a curated lineup of global experts, boardroom veterans, technology innovators and top practitioners. These are the people solving the very challenges you're facing. And now, they're sharing what they've learned along the way.

Sessions go beyond surface-level trends to deliver real-world insights, case studies and practical advice. Whether it’s navigating cyber risk, implementing responsible AI or strengthening compliance oversight, you’ll hear directly from those at the forefront.

2. Stay current on the issues that matter most

From regulatory changes and digital disruption to evolving stakeholder expectations, each summit is designed around timely, high-impact topics. Your agenda will reflect the conversations happening in boardrooms and among leadership teams right now.

No matter the theme, each event offers sessions that are immediately relevant and widely applicable, helping you make smarter decisions and anticipate what’s next.

3. Actionable takeaways you can use right away

The Diligent Virtual Summit Series delivers practical value 

inspiration. Expect to leave each session with:

Frameworks and best practices you can bring back to your organization

Insights to inform board reporting, audits, risk assessments and more

Tools to improve governance workflows and decision-making

This is content designed to spark ideas and empower action.

Did we mention that our virtual summits are completely free? No travel, no cost and no hassle — just high-impact discussions you can access from wherever you are.

Plus, all of our sessions are recorded and available on-demand, making it easy to fit professional development into the busiest schedules.

Designed to take full advantage of the virtual format, the Diligent Summit Series delivers expert insights and instant access to learning. Attendees benefit from interactive Q&A sessions, downloadable resources and follow-up content that deepens engagement. You’ll also connect with a global community of leaders navigating similar challenges.

Professional development isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a requirement for many professionals. That’s why most Diligent Virtual Summits qualify for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits, with some events offering eligibility for CLE, CEU or other region-specific certifications.

Whether you're earning credits for GRC-related certifications, or simply building a stronger resume, these summits offer a convenient, no-cost way to meet your learning goals.

Ready to see what's next and join the conversation?

takes place on June 17, 2025, with sessions available in North American, EMEA and APAC time zones.

This summit will explore how compliance leaders can create meaningful enterprise impact by automating controls, efficiently surfacing insights and strengthening regulatory readiness. If you're looking to make compliance a driver of business value, this is your next move.

To get a view of what's coming, or explore the content from previous virtual summits, check out our 

Inside the Diligent Virtual Summit Series: Why top leaders keep coming back

In the town of Millway, the city council recently experienced a harrowing cyberattack that exposed sensitive resident data, leading to a public outcry and a loss of trust. City Manager Sara Thomson, who had always been passionate about community safety, found herself at the center of the crisis. Residents bombarded her with calls and emails, demanding answers and solutions. The incident not only disrupted the town's operations but also put a strain on the council's ability to function effectively.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Sarah knew that the council needed to take immediate action. She proposed a special meeting to address the cyber breach and to discuss the broader need for a more robust risk management strategy. The council's response would be crucial in restoring public confidence and ensuring the town's resilience against future threats.

As this scenario shows, public boards today can face an array of risks, from cyber threats and financial instability to natural disasters and declining trust. Whether you’re overseeing a municipality, school district or community college, one thing is clear: proactive risk management is essential for safeguarding operations, ensuring continuity and maintaining public trust.

Yet many organizations still lack a clear, board-level strategy for identifying and responding to risk.

So, how should a board proceed, especially if there’s no dedicated risk management committee in place? In this article, we’ll explore best practices for managing risk at the board level, how to establish or enhance oversight, and tools to streamline the process. Whether you’re building a formal committee or embedding risk planning into regular meetings, there are strategic steps every board can take now.

The time for risk management planning is now

Threats can spring up at any time. We’ve seen many examples in recent years, from pandemics and weather emergencies to financial crises and ransomware attacks. Any of these can affect a public board, whether its organization is a small municipality, large school system or a medium-sized community college.

Boards can't afford to wait to take action.

However, it's also important for boards to be clear on how their role interfaces with senior administrators — and not micromanage. The board isn't responsible for eliminating risks; they're only responsible for making sure that risks are accounted for and that a plan is in place for preventing and responding.

So, the board has a fine line to walk, but it can be helpful to think about active risk management for boards as being visionary and strategic. 

 requires taking knowledge of the past risks and past performance to predict future scenarios and solutions in order to ensure the long-term prosperity of the organization.

Planning efforts should balance the cost of action against potential risks.

As a Diligent Community customer on the Diligent One Platform, use Diligent AI Risk Essentials to simplify oversight with AI-powered benchmarking for identifying risks quickly

AI-powered risk benchmarking

Risks public boards need to be aware of and oversee

Operational, strategic, political and reputational risks each present unique kinds of opportunities as long as the board is aware of them and it takes a responsible approach to addressing them.

The list of risks is long, and no matter what type of entity you oversee, there is likely overlap between categories. Still, there are risks particularly significant for each type of organization. Let’s take a look:

Government: Unsustainable public finances, weak or unsustainable growth, labor shortages, deficient cybersecurity 

School districts: Cyber attacks, aging infrastructure, legal exposure 

Community colleges: Cyber breaches, faculty and staff attrition, student activism, national disaster 

Starting with the risks more likely to affect your organization or entity can make preparation efforts more manageable.

"Start with an objective, work backwards, look at the process, look at the technology, look at the provider and then look at it from a risk and resilience perspective, how do we keep the lights on and how do we ensure that that can be delivered." - Scott Bridgen, General Manager of Audit and Risk, Diligent

Establishing a board-level risk committee

Accountability is an important component to managing risk. Boards can assign responsibility to a risk management committee, so they have assurance of accountability. The committee takes responsibility for board-level risk management and oversight of management-level risk programs.

What does a board-level risk committee do?

Establish the organization’s risk profile and define its overall approach to risk management.

Explore the best ways to put controls in place to make sure all parties fulfill their obligations of controlling risks. Committee members could be instrumental in raising awareness of best practices and procedures of risk governance and providing education to the board.

Communicate the risk management profile to the board and the management team and encourage them to use it as a standard in making decisions. Boards can minimize or avoid major risks by practicing good oversight over the agreed-upon risk management profile.

Communication is key. Other board committees should equally be aware of the organization's risk profile. Boards with communication committees should coordinate their communications efforts with those of the risk management committee, and the audit, compliance and strategic planning committees must share the profile as well.

It's best to take an open and honest approach in communicating the 

Risk management without a dedicated committee

Perhaps your organization doesn’t have the resources to form a separate risk management committee. In that case, risk management tasks can be added to the regular meeting agenda to ensure your entity covers this topic meaningfully.

Much of the work of a risk management committee can be completed by smaller boards meeting regularly or by working groups providing regular updates.

The important thing is to take action, no matter the size or your organization.

A newly formed risk management committee, working group or effort will have many tasks ahead in the beginning. The first is to clarify the organization's risk tolerance and risk profiles. Noting the 

 of similar organizations and municipalities serves as a learning experience for all boards.

From there, the committee must evaluate the risks and rewards, as well as any potential trade-offs. The committee will also need to evaluate any environmental circumstances that they need to monitor or manage. In addition, they'll need to scan the internal and external environment for new threats and any new opportunities they might present.

A city has personally identifiable information, or PII, for employees and residents. What if a ransomware demand threatens the exposure of data?

A charity depends on a charismatic, well-networked executive director for a large percentage of annual donations. What happens if that individual departs suddenly?

An older facility on a school campus lacks modern fire-protection measures and is in an area prone to drought. What is the plan to relocate that building’s functions if it is threatened?

Upfront planning lessens the possibility that the board will need to be reactive toward viable threats like those above. Clear risk management reduces the negative impact on employees, processes, technology and the general environment.

How board management software can help with risk management

Diligent Community streamlines meeting preparation, making sure agendas and board packets are centralized, accessible and easy to update. With less time spent manually compiling agendas and board packets and fixing errors, the team can focus on identifying and addressing risks instead of wrestling with paperwork.

Board members can access key information for meeting preparation and decision-making easily on any device, anywhere and any time, and they can make private annotations as they prepare for upcoming discussions and votes.

Documents and board business are kept secure instead of in unsecure email or file-sharing systems, helping to mitigate against cyber risk.

Seamlessly manage multiple board committees or meeting groups all within Diligent Community

Customize who can create, access and engage with content within each committee, ensuring the right stakeholders are involved

Tailor custom workflows and approval trees for each committee, optimizing efficiency and accountability

Allow the public to subscribe to specific committee groups for updates through your public website, enhancing transparency and engagement

Optimize efficiency by creating custom workflows and approval trees for every committee

Diligent Community helps improve public trust around how the board is managing risks, by giving the board a way to show the community they are making thoughtful, responsible decisions. The tools make it easy to share meeting minutes, voting records and financial updates online. With everything out in the open, residents can feel reassured and board members feel empowered to keep making smart choices.

As a Diligent Community customer on the Diligent One Platform, your team will also be able to access 

, helping you simplify risk oversight with AI-powered benchmarking to identify relevant risks quickly, and support you along the way with guided onboarding and educational resources, including access to Diligent Institute’s new ERM Certification.

Risk management is increasingly falling under a public board’s purview, so every board member needs to be aware how teamwork on risk can protect the organization’s future. With Diligent Community, boards can streamline the work to minimize threats. 

Risk management for public boards: What you need to know

Director outlook improves slightly in May amid continued headwinds

After a 30 percent decline in March, directors’ rating of business conditions in the U.S. retreated another 5 percent in May, according the 128 U.S. public company board members polled May 12-14 as part of this month's Director Confidence Index, conducted in partnership between Diligent Institute and 

The Index, which measures directors’ confidence in the current business environment, is now down to 4.4, on a scale where 1 is Poor and 10 is Excellent, from 4.7 in March and 6.7 at the start of the year.

Directors’ expectations for what those conditions will be 12 months from now, however, improved slightly in our May polling, clawing back 4 percent of the previous quarter’s 33 percent drop. While a small proportion, we captured a similar uptick in optimism among CEOs in the 

This month’s forecast highlights a potential 9 percent improvement in the business landscape 12 months out, according to our director survey—an improvement the board members polled attribute to a likely positive resolution to the current trade negotiations.

“Government efficiency and fair trade will ultimately improve economic outlook at a macro level,” said Phil Garfinkle, chair of the WidePoint board, noting however that some industries may nevertheless “stumble as they navigate the new horizon.”

Some directors added that the strength of the U.S. economy should also counterbalance the uncertainty surrounding tariffs. “A lot of noise currently with unknowns, but fundamentals are sound,” said one director, echoing others.

As a result, 40 percent expect business conditions will continue to improve over the coming months. That proportion is up from 36 percent last quarter. Perhaps even more telling is that the proportion of directors who forecast things will deteriorate further in the coming months declined by nearly half in May, to 21 percent from 41 percent in March.

“We need to get through the short-term tariff overhang; underlying business activity will strengthen as uncertainty lessens,” said one director.

“The policy transitions underway will be clearer [by this time next year]—and many will contribute to stronger forecast,” added another director who forecasts growth and improvement over the coming months.

Still, 57 percent continue to expect a recession within the next six months—a situation several called “unavoidable."

Overall, 48 percent say despite the uncertainty in the current environment, they remain focused on growth this year, though 36 percent said they are also keeping a close eye on risk mitigation through reforecasting and scenario planning.

More specifically, 39 percent said they are working on diversifying their supply chain and/or revising their pricing model, the two items they say have been the most impacted by recent changes to trade policies.

When asked how all of this is expected to impact companies’ bottom lines, directors shared their forecasts:

65 percent forecast increases in revenue in 2025, down from 69 percent in March.

59 percent forecast profit growth this year, down from 69 percent.

41 percent plan to increase capital expenditures in the months ahead, up from 32 percent in March.

Director Confidence Index: May 2025

Our AI Fact Sheet is your go-to resource for the latest research and insights from Diligent Institute on artificial intelligence (AI)integration and board oversight. Updated quarterly.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how companies operate, presenting both tremendous opportunities and new challenges for boards and leadership teams. As rapid advancement requires proactive oversight, Diligent Institute’s latest research provides a snapshot of how organizations and their boards are responding—and what actions they should consider next.

See below for a recap of some survey findings from the Diligent Institute on how AI is being used at different organizations and how the board is thinking about AI integration.

: An annual survey of U.S. public company directors conducted in partnership with Corporate Board Member and FTI Consulting.

42% of directors cite optimizing operations and enhancing workforce productivity as the biggest opportunities of incorporating generative AI into their businesses.

32% of directors identify the lack of knowledge and capabilities among leadership as the biggest risk in using generative AI.

80% of public company directors report their company has taken some sort of action regarding rapid changes in AI development and deployment.

44% of companies have incorporated AI into one or more areas of their business, including products and services.

: A quarterly survey of directors and GCs conducted in partnership with Corporate Board Member.

60% of directors said their GC provides minimal to no support to the board in its oversight of AI.

AI Insights from the Corporate Director Podcast

We also feature leaders in AI and governance, risk and compliance on our biweekly podcast! Below, you’ll find some key tips from our recent guests on AI integration.

Key quote: “I think it's probably 3 to 5 years before it would actually be a violation of our duties as General Counsel not to use A.I. The level of discourse will improve because we will see outstanding board texts prepared with the help of AI. You'll see real-time dashboards instead of a businessperson spending all night doing it.”—Cecilia Ziniti, Founder and CEO, GC AI

Incorporating gen AI into business strategy

Key quote: “A robust AI governance framework is crucial. This includes AI ethics guidelines, continuous risk assessment, data privacy compliance, transparency protocols, human oversight, and scenario testing to align AI investments with business objectives while managing risks." —Sophia Velastegui, AI Business Leader, Director and Committee Chair, BlackLine, Former GM of AI Products and Chief AI Officer, Microsoft

Key quote: “The pace of change with AI remarkably rapid. We're now entering the era of autonomous agentic AI, and that really emphasizes the need for directors to obtain ongoing education. You can't oversee something you don't understand. Keep an eye on the regulatory landscape. It's evolving, it's fragmented, and this really affects how and where a company may be able to use generative AI.”—Claudia Allen, Senior Advisor, KPMG Board Leadership Center

Additional resources from Diligent Institute

: This report, created with the Institute of Directors, guides you through leveraging AI responsibly. Based on expert insights, you'll understand open vs. closed systems, protect your data, upskill talent in AI engineering and leadership, ensure transparency and governance, and integrate AI effectively while mitigating risks.

"AI isn’t a luxury for big corporations only; it’s an essential tool for small businesses." —Rob Noble, Chair at The Webinar Vet, MBA-IT and Founder of Fidem Consulting

“Data privacy and security are critical, especially when it comes to AI. Companies need to ensure all policies and protocols are locked down.” —Craig Bentley, Co-Founder of Ignite AI Partners and Branch Chair of the IoD

"Maintaining a diverse team can foster innovation and reduce the risk of groupthink, which is vital for successful AI adoption.”—Pauline Norstrom, Founder and CEO of Anekanta AI

AI is no longer an emerging issue on the periphery—it is a board-level priority demanding deliberate action. Directors who prioritize education, effective governance, and responsible adoption can help their organizations harness AI’s benefits while mitigating risks. Explore Diligent Institute’s resources for deeper guidance and real-world case studies on AI oversight.

Diligent

Blog

Inside the Diligent Virtual Summit Series: Why top leaders keep coming back

Risk management for public boards: What you need to know

Your Data Matters