The first cohort pursuing the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Certificate is set to graduate on May 23rd.  The ceremony will be held at the Grosvenor Hotel, London, and the keynote speaker will be Vince Cable MP and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The FT launched the FT Non-Executive Director Certificate in September 2011 – a formally accredited, post-graduate level qualification and the first of its kind to address the needs of aspiring and existing non executive directors. The six month course has already been well-received with the first three intakes fully-booked.

The certificate aims to encourage board diversity as every graduating woman will be eligible to be included on the list of ‘Board Ready Women’ by the European Business Schools/Women on board initiative. Since its launch, more than 35% of delegates who have booked onto the course are women.

Daniela Florea, chief executive of Geo Strategies, said: “The Non-Executive Director Certificate has been a highly engaging and diverse course. It has stirred those healthy realisations and arguments necessary to the process of learning, creativity and change – all the time engaging with friendly professionals who are wholly on top of their subject.”

Ben Hughes, global commercial director and deputy CEO, said: “Non-executive directors are key influencers in the corporate sphere and people from all kinds of backgrounds are now seeking our Non-Executive Directors Certificate. I am delighted with the popularity of the programme, which comes at a time when the need to have board directors who can ask businesses the right questions has never been greater.

For more information visit http://www.non-execs.com/certificate/.

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For further information please contact:

UK/EMEA:
Kristina Eriksson
Head of Communications, EMEA
T: +44 (0)207 873 4961
E: kristina.eriksson@ft.com

Asia:
Azmar Sukandar
Head of Communications, Asia Pacific
T: +852 2905 5519
E: Azmar.Sukandar@ft.com

US:
Andrew Green
Communications Coordinator, The Americas
T: +1 212 641 6357
E: andrew.green@ft.com

About the Financial Times:

The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing essential news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community, the FT has a combined paid print and digital circulation of over 600,000  (Deloitte assured, 2 January 2012 – 1 April 2012) and a combined print and online average daily readership of 2.2 million people worldwide (PwC assured, November 2011). FT.com has more than 4.5 million registered users and 285,475 paying digital subscribers. The newspaper, printed at 21 print sites across the globe, has a global print circulation of 319,381 (ABC, March 2012).

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