About Us

Privacy Policy

The National Association of Corporate Directors, the NACD Corporate Directors Institute, and NACD’s Affiliated Chapters (collectively “NACD,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) nonprofit organizations with a mission to empower directors and transform boards. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information, as well as the rights you have regarding that information.

APPLICATION OF THIS POLICY

NACD’s Privacy Policy applies to our websites, landing pages, forms, and our learning, credentialing, and event platforms (collectively, the “Site”) and use of any of our services, including but not limited to board services, membership, certification, and fellowship programs, education, events, and corporate governance services (collectively, the “Services”). Except as may be detailed here, this NACD Privacy Policy (the “Privacy Policy”) does not apply to information that may be collected through other means, including information collected by third-party services, applications, learning or event platforms, or websites or advertisements associated with, linked to, or otherwise accessible from this Site. The information collected or received by such third parties is subject to their own privacy policies or practices.

By accessing or using our Site, Services, or voluntarily providing your information to us, you consent to the collection and use of all information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you interact with the Services on behalf of an NACD member company or partnering organization, and provide the personal information of your employees, directors, or board members to NACD, you confirm that you have authorization to do so. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not provide us with any information and do not use our Services. This Privacy Policy and your use of our Services is also subject to our Terms of Use.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time in response to changing legal, technical, or business developments. You can see when this Privacy Policy was last updated by checking the “Last Updated” date displayed at the bottom of this Privacy Policy.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

NACD may collect information (whether online, by phone, in person, and/or by paper) from members and nonmembers, which enables us to identify or contact you for business purposes when you visit our Site or have an account with NACD for the use of Services; voluntarily complete a customer or vendor survey; provide feedback on any of our message boards or via email; ask a question; participate in credentialing programs; attend a national or chapter event; and other similar activities. Your information may be provided to us by a member of a company if you are part of its corporate board membership or partnering organization. We may also collect information from publicly available sources such as the IRS, USPS, social media, board profile services, third-party list providers, and other websites. The types of personal information we collect include, but are not limited to:

HOW WE COLLECT AND USE INFORMATION

Information You Provide to Us. You may provide personal contact and/or business information to us as you connect with us in various ways, such as these:

1. You may register for a program, event, or service.
2. You may subscribe or seek to download materials after providing us with your information.
3. You may join NACD as an individual or corporate board member.
4. You may seek an NACD credential.
5. You may provide financial information in order for us to process payment for any of the above.

We use contact information from the above to share information about our company and the Services. User’s contact information is also used to contact a visitor to the Site when necessary. Credit card information that is collected is used to bill the user for purchased products and Services, and is not stored on NACD’s proprietary systems, but rather is stored as a token visible only to a merchant processor. We do not recommend emailing payment information. If you email us with payment information, that information may then be stored in our email systems. Copies of checks will be stored on our systems. Demographic information may sometimes be collected to supplement the information we collect from you; however, the demographic fields are optional, and you can delete this information by contacting us (see below). Users may opt out of receiving future marketing mailings and/or emails from NACD or any affiliated entities/chapters (see the choice/opt-out section below); however, if you are a member, we may continue to send administrative and educational information to you regarding your membership with NACD.

Membership. In connection with your membership, you (or someone on your behalf) will provide us with some or all of the following membership-related information: contact information, business information, payment information or other enrollment information, and any other information you choose to provide us. Information related to your membership with us will remain in our database even after your membership ends in order for us to accurately process future membership, verify past credentials, provide educational transcripts, and accomplish other administrative activities.

Responses to member surveys are aggregated and de-identified when published. Demographic information may sometimes be collected to supplement the information we collect from you; however, the demographic fields are optional, and you can delete this information by contacting us (see below).

Credentials. Credentials including, but not limited to:

1. NACD Directorship Certification^®
2. NACD Fellowship^®
3. Cyber-Risk Oversight Certificate
4. Effective AI Oversight for Directors Certificate

Portions of our Site, including NACD Credentials and related web pages that link to this Privacy Policy, use forms and other means to collect user’s contact and personal information for purposes related to NACD Directorship Certification^®, NACD Board Leadership Fellowship, and the NACD Cyber-Risk Oversight and the Effective AI Oversight for Directors Certificates. You may also provide us with information relevant to obtaining CPE or CLE professional credits.

Demographic information may sometimes be collected to supplement the information we collect from you; however, the demographic fields are optional, and you can delete this information by contacting us (see below). We may also request medical documentation for those requesting testing accommodations; we do not share your medical documentation except for purposes of securing the requested accommodations with our testing providers (like Pearson VUE).

Board Search. Your personal contact information, business information, and any additional information (e.g., résumé, personal biography, and headshot) may be shared with external board candidate search team members. Successful search announcements may be shared on our Site or social media channels.

Cookie Preferences. This Site uses cookies, tracking pixels, and related tracking technologies, whenever you access or interact with the Site. Cookies are small data files that are served by our platform and stored on your device. Our Site uses cookies dropped by third parties or us for a variety of purposes, including to operate and personalize the Site, for instance to remember your language preferences and shopping cart. Also, cookies may be used to track how you use the Site to target ads served to you on other websites. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

You may opt out of non-essential cookies when you first visit our Site, or on our Site through our Cookie Preferences link.

We also use analytics providers and may employ machine learning tools to analyze aggregated Site usage data to improve content, functionality, and security. We do not use AI or automated decision-making to produce legal or governance recommendations without human review.

Speakers/Bloggers/Contributors. When bloggers/contributors submit articles electronically, they must adhere to the NACD Contributor Guidelines, which require such articles be sent as an attachment with an email cover letter, including name, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of the authors. Information collected from Speakers may be governed by independent speaker agreements.

Events. NACD may collect personal, business, marketing, and other types of information (as defined above) when you attend an NACD event, including but not limited to, as a speaker, attendee, volunteer, or sponsor. Your name and board or company affiliations may be shared with other attendees. Because many NACD events are photographed, recorded for archival or replay purposes, or conducted virtually, your voice and/or likeness may appear accordingly.

Other Forms of Communication and Information Collected. In the course of communications, NACD may collect contact information from you (including by phone, email, chat, in person, via social media, the Site, or otherwise) in order to provide our Services. Our Site uses an order form for customers to request information, products, and Services. We collect visitors’ contact information (like their email address) and financial information (like their account or credit card numbers). Contact information from the order form is used to send orders to our customers. The customer’s contact information is used to get in touch with the customer when necessary. Users may opt out of receiving future mailings and/or emails: see the choice/opt-out section below. Financial information that is collected is used to bill the user for products and Services. Our online surveys may ask visitors for contact information (like their email address) and, for purchases, certain financial information (like their account or credit card numbers). We use contact data from our surveys to send the user information about our company. Users may opt out of receiving future mailings and/or emails; see the choice/opt-out section below.

This Site contains links to other websites. NACD is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.

Without limiting the above, where we need your personal information to provide the Services to you, if you do not provide this information when requested (or you later ask to delete it), we may not be able to provide you with the Services. Such information is considered to be what a reasonable person would understand as necessary to perform the Services, and any information we designate as “required” at the time of collection, or through other appropriate means.

Use of Automated Processing, and AI. We may use certain artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools to enhance our productivity, improve our services, and support members.

• Use of AI: We may use AI to assist with content development, optimize communications, personalize member experiences, analyze data, and support internal productivity.
• Safeguards: We do not sell your personal information to AI vendors. Any data shared with AI providers is governed by written agreements, is de-identified or anonymized where possible, and is subject to confidentiality and security safeguards. Sensitive data such as medical, financial, or otherwise confidential data, is not processed through AI tools.

The sections above describe our main purpose in collecting your personal information, but our collection and processing of your personal information is based in different contexts upon your consent, our need to perform a contract, our legal obligations, and our legitimate interest in conducting business.

HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

We may share your personal information with third parties under the following circumstances or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:

Sale of Information. We do not sell personal information.

Third Parties. We work with third parties to enable and enhance the Services and expand the impact of our mission. We may share your personal information with these service providers, members, and business partners. For example, the information of those who are NACD Directorship Certified^® may go to our credentialing, digital badging, and database partners, who will denote certified directors for those searching the database. Other third-party companies and individuals provide services on our behalf to help us operate the Services, such as customer support, email delivery, website optimization, hosting, marketing, database management services, credentialing, digital badging services that provide badges for accomplishments such as achieving NACD Directorship Certification, databases of board-ready candidates and directors as noted above, and board search alliance partners.

Other Disclosures with Your Consent. We may share your data with third parties when you consent or direct us to do so.

Events. We may provide your personal information, business information, board affiliation, and city location on a list of attendees at our programs for which you have registered (whether you are able to then attend or not). You may choose to share additional details virtually, such as through an event app, or via an in-person fishbowl (business card collection). In addition, NACD events may be recorded and published in their entirety via NACD’s member-only or publicly accessible video library, and we may use a highlight reel of the event for promotional use via NACD emails, websites, virtual/in-person NACD programs, NACD publications, and in other promotional materials.

Your Company/Corporate Member Point of Contact. We may also share personal information, membership information, and other information with the company or organization that has made you an authorized user of the Services.

Credentialing. As part of the administration of NACD credentials, we may post on our Site and social media sites that you have earned a credential. We may disclose some of your information to service providers (like testing providers [for example, Pearson VUE]), online badge providers, external director databases (for example, Equilar), and other providers of technology, to those requesting credential verification, to provide Services, and as otherwise permitted or required by law. Users may opt out of disclosing certain information. See the choice/opt-out section below. However, be aware that users who opt out of certain portions will not be able to pursue, obtain, or maintain NACD Directorship Certification.

Compliance and Legal Process. We may disclose contact information and/or information about you as we believe necessary or appropriate to (i) comply with applicable laws and for lawful requests such as a subpoena or other legal process, or (ii) as we believe appropriate to (a) investigate or prevent illegal activities or to assist government enforcement agencies; (b) protect our, your, or others’ rights, privacy, safety, or property; and (c) enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Services; and (d) in the event (or partial event) of a corporate sale (asset or stock), merger, reorganization, change in corporate control, acquisition, insolvency, bankruptcy, or similar event.

How We Protect Your Personal Information. No method of internet transmission or electronic storage is fully secure. While we use reasonable efforts to protect personal information, we cannot guarantee its security. If we are required to inform you about a security incident, we will do so electronically, in writing, or by phone, as the law permits.;

Our websites may permit you to create an account. You are responsible for selecting a unique and complex password and keeping it confidential. You are responsible for any access to or use of your account by someone who has obtained your password, whether or not you approved of such access or use. Notify us of unauthorized use of your password or account immediately.

YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES/OPT OUT

Cancel Membership. To cancel your individual NACD membership or request that we delete the personal information we have collected from you, you can email privacy@NACDonline.org, or call 571-367-3700. To be removed from the roster of a corporate membership and have your personal information deleted, ask that your company’s membership point of contact email privacy@NACDonline.org or call 571-367-3700.

Opt Out of Emails and Certain Data Sharing. Please use one of the following methods to stop receiving certain communications from NACD, or to request that we not share your personal information with third parties for their marketing purposes:

1. To update your subscriber preferences or to opt out of NACD marketing emails, click here.
2. Emails also contain links to unsubscribe from marketing and news information, if desired.
3. Update your cookie preferences for the Site by clicking the button below. We also honor Global Privacy Control signals.
   
   Cookie Settings
4. Email privacy@NACDonline.org.
5. Call 571-367-3700.

Even if you choose to opt out from certain data uses described in this Privacy Policy, we will continue processing your personal information where we are required to by law and for our legitimate business needs.

How Long We Retain Your Data. We will retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes for which your personal information has been collected as outlined in this Privacy Policy (including after your membership ends) unless a longer retention period is required by law.

Children’s Information. Those under the age of 18 are not eligible for NACD Services. Further, we do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13. If you believe that a child under the age of 13 may have provided us personal information, please contact us at privacy@nacdonline.org.

Your Choices. Subject to certain exceptions, some jurisdictions give you the right to make the following choices:

• The right to access; portability. You may request access to your personal information or confirmation that we process your personal information. In certain limited cases, you may ask to receive access to your personal information in a portable, machine-readable form.
• The right to rectification. You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information. We may keep historical data in our backup files as permitted by law.
• The right to erasure. You may ask us to delete your personal information. If required by law, we will grant such a request, but note that in many cases, we must keep your personal information to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, or for other business purposes.
• The right to restrict or object to processing. In certain circumstances, you may object to the processing of your personal information or ask that we restrict processing of it. To do so, follow the instructions below.
• The right to withdraw consent, where consent is the basis for processing. Where we process your personal information based upon consent, you may have the right to revoke consent. Note, if you revoke consent for processing personal information, we may no longer be able to provide you some types of services.

Please submit any requests using the contact information below. If you disagree with how we handled a request, you may appeal our decision by contacting us via email at privacy@NACDonline.org.

Not all the rights above are absolute, and they do not apply in all circumstances. We may limit or deny a request because the law permits or requires us to. We will not discriminate against individuals who exercise a privacy right under applicable law. You should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights. All users may opt out of cookies when visiting our site. Also, you may contact us using the contact information at the end of this Privacy Policy.

As required by law, we will require you to prove your identity. We may conduct an identity verification by phone call, email, or via other secure means. Depending on your request, we may ask for information such as your name. We may also ask you to provide a signed declaration confirming your identity.

In some circumstances, you may designate an authorized agent to exercise rights on your behalf.

Cross-Border Data Transfers. NACD operates primarily within the United States, but this Site and Services are accessible to users worldwide. Accordingly, your personal information may be transferred to, stored, or processed in countries other than your country of residence, including but not limited to the United States, where privacy laws may differ. Please note that personal information transferred to the United States or other jurisdictions may be subject to lawful access requests from governmental authorities, courts, or law enforcement agencies under the laws of those jurisdictions. Where required by applicable law, NACD implements appropriate safeguards for cross-border transfers that provide an adequate level of data protection.

Contacting Us. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or your dealings with this Site, or if you need to access this Notice in a different form due to disability, you can:

1. email privacy@NACDonline.org, or
2. call the following telephone number: 571-367-3700.

Last Updated: January 20, 2026