Dr Donald Nordberg - Bournemouth University Staff Profile Pages

Biography

Donald Nordberg is engaged in his third career, this time as an academic. He is Associate Professor of Strategy and Corporate Governance. Current activities include:

Research: Writing and PhD supervision on corporate governance, innovation, and the philosophy of management; author of the book Corporate Governance: Principles & Issues (Sage Publications, 2011), dozens of journal articles and scholarly works; editorial board member of Management Decision; chair of the corporate governance track at the British Academy of Management

Education: Teaching innovation management, strategy, and corporate governance and ethics

Professional practice: Chair of the board of trustees of a charity in the South West of England serving people with learning difficulties and dementia

Background:

For many years Don was a news correspondent and editorial executive at Reuters, living in Germany, Switzerland, the United States and the UK and working on assignment in many countries around world... As Financial Editor, he led development of news services designed for financial institutions, before becoming News Editor for the Western hemisphere and Vice President of Reuters America.

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Research

Research in corporate governance, boards, codes and institutional theory; leader of the research cluster on Regulation, Corporate Governance & Taxation.

Interested in inquiries for PhD supervision, especially qualitative studies of boards, investors, and the governance of inter-organisational collaboration.

Favourites

Nordberg, D., 2018. Edging toward ‘reasonably’ good corporate governance. Philosophy of Management.
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Concannon, M. and Nordberg, D., 2018. Boards strategizing in liminal spaces: Process and practice, formal and informal. European Management Journal, 36 (1), 71-82.
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McNulty, T. and Nordberg, D., 2016. Ownership, Activism and Engagement: Institutional Investors as Active Owners. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 24 (3), 346-358.
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Nordberg, D. and McNulty, T., 2013. Creating better boards through codification: Possibilities and limitations in UK corporate governance, 1992-2010. Business History, 55 (3), 348-374.
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Nordberg, D., 2012. Return of the State? The G20, the Financial Crisis and Power in the World Economy. Review of Political Economy, 24 (2), 289-302.
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Nordberg, D., 2012. Rules of the game: whose value is served when the board fires the owners? Business Ethics: A European Review, 21 (3), 298-309.
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Nordberg, D., 2008. The Ethics of Corporate Governance. Journal of General Management, 33 (4), 35-52.
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Nordberg, D., 2008. Waste Makes Haste: Sarbanes-Oxley, Competitiveness and the Subprime Crisis. Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, 16 (4), 365-383.
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Nordberg, D., 2011. Corporate Governance: Principles and Issues. London: Sage Publications.
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Nordberg, D., 2010. The Politics of Shareholder Activism. Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 409-425.
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Journal Articles

Nordberg, D., 2018. Book review: Heidegger and Executive Education, by Toby Thompson. Management Learning: The Journal for Managerial and Organizational Learning.
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Nordberg, D., 2018. Edging toward ‘reasonably’ good corporate governance. Philosophy of Management.
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Concannon, M. and Nordberg, D., 2018. Boards strategizing in liminal spaces: Process and practice, formal and informal. European Management Journal, 36 (1), 71-82.
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Nordberg, D., 2017. Board ethos and institutional work: Developing a corporate governance identity through developing the UK code. Economics and Business Review, 17 (1), 73-96.
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Nordberg, D., 2017. First and second drafts of history: The case of trump, foucault and pre-modern governance. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 9 (2), 107-117.
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McNulty, T. and Nordberg, D., 2016. Ownership, Activism and Engagement: Institutional Investors as Active Owners. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 24 (3), 346-358.
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Nordberg, D., 2015. Book review: Learning in Landscapes of Practice, by Etienne Wenger-Trayner, et al. Management Learning, 46 (3), 361-362.
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Nordberg, D., 2014. Governing the governance of the governors: Motivating accountability at the top of public organizations. Evidence-Based HRM, 2 (1), 114-119.
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Nordberg, D., 2013. The SAGE Handbook of Corporate Governance. MANAGEMENT LEARNING, 44 (2), 197-199.
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Nordberg, D., 2013. Book review: Clarke and Branson, Sage Handbook of Corporate Governance. Management Learning: The Journal for Managerial and Organizational Learning, 44 (2), 197-199.
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Nordberg, D. and McNulty, T., 2013. Creating better boards through codification: Possibilities and limitations in UK corporate governance, 1992-2010. Business History, 55 (3), 348-374.
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Nordberg, D. and Rieple, A., 2012. Craft, factory or profession? Institutional logics in research supervision. Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings, Meeting Abstract Supplement (1).
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Nordberg, D., 2012. Return of the State? The G20, the Financial Crisis and Power in the World Economy. Review of Political Economy, 24 (2), 289-302.
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Nordberg, D., 2012. Rules of the game: whose value is served when the board fires the owners? Business Ethics: A European Review, 21 (3), 298-309.
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Nordberg, D., 2010. Book Review: Mintzberg's Managing. Management Learning: The Journal for Managerial and Organizational Learning, 41 (4), 496-500.
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Nordberg, D., 2010. Book Review: Grant's Contemporary Strategy Analysis. The International Journal of Management Education, 8 (3), 119-120.
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Nordberg, D., 2010. Disagreeing about the climate. Business and Society, 49 (3), 548-557.
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Nordberg, D., 2008. The Ethics of Corporate Governance. Journal of General Management, 33 (4), 35-52.
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Nordberg, D., 2008. Waste Makes Haste: Sarbanes-Oxley, Competitiveness and the Subprime Crisis. Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, 16 (4), 365-383.
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Nordberg, D., 2008. Designing business curricula: building relevance into higher education. The International Journal of Management Education, 7 (2), 81-86.
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Nordberg, D., 2008. Group projects: More learning? Less fair? A conundrum in assessing postgraduate business education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33 (5), 481-492.
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Nordberg, D., 2007. Rebalancing the board's agenda. Journal of General Management, 33 (2), 13-23.
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Nordberg, D., 2007. Knowledge Creation: Revisiting the 'Ba' Humbug - People and 'Latent' Knowledge in Organizational Learning. Ifcai Journal of Knowledge Management, 5 (6), 7-16.
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Nordberg, D., 2007. Fairness in Assessing Group Projects: A Conceptual Framework for Higher Education. International Journal of Quality and Standards, 1 (2).
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Nordberg, D., 2007. News and Corporate Governance: What Dow Jones and Reuters Teach Us About Stewardship. Journalism: theory, practice and criticism, 8 (6), 718-735.
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Nordberg, D., 2001. Communicating Intangible Value. Journal of General Management, 26 (4), 28-46.
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Books

Nordberg, D., 2011. Corporate Governance: Principles and Issues. London: Sage Publications.
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Nordberg, D., 1998. Online Investor Relations: How technology is reshaping shareholder communications. London: Net Profit Publications.
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Chapters

Nordberg, D., 2011. Corporate governance and the Board. In: Idowu, S. and Louche, C., eds. Theory and Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility. Berlin: Springer, 39-53.
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Nordberg, D., 2010. Unfettered Agents? The Role of Ethics in Corporate Governance. In: Baker, H.E. and Anderson, R., eds. Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 175-191.
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Nordberg, D., 2010. The Politics of Shareholder Activism. Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 409-425.
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Conferences

Nordberg, D., 2018. Familiar places or liminal spaces? Examining the codification process in corporate governance. In: British Academy of Management 3-6 September 2018 Bristol.
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Massie, R., 2018. Speed Dating for Productivity: Get that paper written. In: British Academy of Management 3-6 September 2018 Bristol.
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Nordberg, D., 2018. Places and spaces: Control or experimentation in corporate governance? In: Philosophy of Management 25-28 June 2018 London.
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Zeitoun, H., Nordberg, D. and Homberg, F., 2018. The dark and bright sides of hubris: Conceptual implications for corporate governance and leadership research. In: European Academy of Management 27-30 June 2018 Reykjavik.
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Nordberg, D. and Muridzo, S., 2018. Governing the country through the public broadcasting corporation. In: British Academy of Management symposium on Corporate Governance in the Middle East and Africa 16 February 2018 Cass Business School, London.
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Nordberg, D., 2017. Trump, Foucault and pre-modern governance and First and second drafts of history. In: British Academy of Management 5-7 September 2017 Warwick.
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Nordberg, D. and Booth, R., 2017. Evaluating board effectiveness: A review and framework for evaluation of corporate boards. In: British Academy of Management 5-7 September 2017 Warwick.
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Muridzo, S., Nordberg, D. and Jukes, S., 2017. Suppressing higher aims? Buried institutional logics resurface in public service broadcasting in Zimbabwe, 1970-2008. In: British Academy of Management 5-7 September 2017 Warwick.
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Booth, R. and Nordberg, D., 2017. Self or other: Directors’ attitudes towards policy initiatives for external board evaluation. In: International Corporate Governance Society 1-3 September 2017 Rome.
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Nordberg, D., 2017. Edging toward ‘reasonably’ good corporate governance. In: Philosophy of Management 13-17 July 2017 St. Louis, MO.
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Johnson, M., Heaslip, V., Nordberg, D. et al., 2016. Positive About Dementia (POSADEM): A pan-European Erasmus project to develop a multi-disciplinary Masters programme in Dementia. In: 26th Alzheimer Europe Conference "Excellence in Dementia reasearch and care" 31 October-2 November 2016 Copnhagen, Denmark.
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Nordberg, D., 2016. Short-termism, ownership and implications for investor stewardship. In: British Academy of Management 6-8 September 2016 Newcastle.
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Nordberg, D., 2016. Contestation over board design and development of UK corporate governance. In: British Academy of Management 6-8 September 2016 Newcastle.
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Nordberg, D. and Concannon, M., 2015. Strategizing in liminal spaces: Board practice, strategy and informality. In: British Academy of Management 8-10 September 2015 Portsmouth.
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Nordberg, D. and Katelouzou, D., 2015. Alternatives within corporate ‘ownership’. In: Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics 2-4 July 2015 London.
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Nordberg, D., 2015. Comply or explain: Exemplifying 'reasonably' good corporate governance. In: WINIR Symposium on the Nature and Governance of the Corporation 22-24 April 2015 Lugano, Switzerland.
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Nordberg, D., 2014. Reasonably good corporate governance. In: British Academy of Management 9-11 September 2014 Belfast.
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Nordberg, D. and Breitbarth, T., 2014. Call and response: Identity and witness in legitimating CSR. In: British Academy of Management 9 September 2014 Belfast.
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Lamont, C. and Nordberg, D., 2014. Becoming or unbecoming: Contested academic identities. In: British Academy of Management 9-11 September 2014 Belfast.
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Nordberg, D., 2014. Challenge in the Fourth Estate: Institutional complexity in news organizations. In: European Group for Organizational Studies 2-5 July 2014 Rotterdam.
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Nordberg, D., 2014. Institutional logics, blended and suspended. In: European Academy of Management 4-7 June 2014 Valencia.
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Nordberg, D., 2014. Governance of the governing. In: European Academy of Management 4-7 June 2014 Valencia.
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Bobeva, M., Nordberg, D. and Breitbarth, T., 2013. MOOC or not? – Transformation or Disruption in Higher Education: A workshop. In: British Academy of Management 10-12 September 2013 Liverpool.
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Nordberg, D., 2013. News media as corporate governance watchdogs. In: British Academy of Management 10-12 September 2013 Liverpool.
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Nordberg, D., 2013. Codes and institutional work: Development the UK corporate governance code, 1992-2010. In: Academy of Management August 2013 Orlando, FL.
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Nordberg, D., 2013. Fields, logics and corporate governance. In: European Group for Organizational Studies July 2013 Montreal.
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Nordberg, D. and Rieple, A., 2012. Craft, factory or profession? Institutional logics in research supervision. In: Academy of Management 3-8 August 2012 Boston.
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Nordberg, D., 2012. Institutional logics, translated, in corporate governance. In: EGOS Colloquium 4-6 July 2012 Helsinki.
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Nordberg, D.. Governing the corporation and the news: Murdoch, Foucault and governmentality. In: British Academy of Management 10-12 September 2012 Cardiff.
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Nordberg, D.. Governmentality and governance. In: Governmentality and CSR 8 September 2011 Royal Holloway University of London.
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Nordberg, D.. Accountability and responsibility. In: Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Development conference 20-21 March 2011 London Metropolitan University.
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Nordberg, D.. Institutional Change and Corporate Governance. In: British Academy of Management 9-11 September 2010 Sheffield.
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Nordberg, D.. Return of the State: The G20, the financial crisis and power in the world economy. In: European Academy of Business in Society 8-9 September 2009 Barcelona.
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Nordberg, D.. Some are more equal: The politics of shareholder activism. In: British Academy of Management conference 12-13 September 2009 Brighton.
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Nordberg, D.. Politics in corporate governance: how power shapes the board's agenda. In: British Academy of Management conference 13-14 September 2008 Harrogate.
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Nordberg, D.. Designing Business Curricula. In: Business, Management, Accounting and Finance (HE Academy 29-30 April 2008 Edinburgh.
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Nordberg, D.. News and corporate governance. In: Centre for Board Effectiveness 4-5 October 2007 Henley Management College.
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Nordberg, D.. The ethics of corporate governance. In: Centre for Board Effectiveness 4-5 October 2007 Henley Management College.
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Nordberg, D.. Communicating intangible value. In: Centre for Board Effectiveness 1-2 October 2000 Henley Management College.
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Nordberg, D.. Online investor relations. In: Centre for Board Effectiveness 2-3 October 1999 Henley Management College.
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Internet Publications

Nordberg, D., 2017. Cadbury: Roads not taken. University of Oxford Law Department. Available from: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2017/06/cadbury-roads-not-taken.
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Nordberg, D., 2017. Cadbury and a road not taken: Contestation over board design and development of UK corporate governance. Social Sciences Research Networks. Available from: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2972545.
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Nordberg, D., 2011. Institutional logics in research supervision. University of Westminster. Available from: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3075381.
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PhD Students

Carly Lamont. Identity and change in academic life
Leslie Spiers, 2018. Corporate Governance and its contribution to risk and crisis management in small companies
Maxwell Saban. How entrepreneurs learn to grow through mentoring
Bchr Alatassi. Towards an International Corporate Governance Model for both Western and Islamic Bankin
Searchmore Muridzo, 2019. Viability of public broadcasting as principal media: the case of Zimbabwe
Man The Nguyen, 2019. Effect of corporate governance and ownership on firm performance in Vietnam
Tahani Mohamed, 2018. Evaluation of Tax Minimisation and Corporate Governance in UK Multinational Companies
Dennis Seaman, 2020. Audit committees and corporate governance
Simbarashe Muzarurwi, 2025. Internal Audit influence in enhancing corporate governance in UK local government organisations

Profile of Teaching PG

Corporate Control and Management (Guernsey)
Course leader for MSc Corporate Governance 2012-16
Business Models, Resources & Intellectual Property
Corporate Governance & Ethics (Guernsey)
MBA Strategic Management (2016-)

Invited Lectures

International corporate governance, University of Surrey, 08 May 2012 more

Corporate Governance at an international level, University of Surrey, 2012
Research paper presetation, University of Roehampton, 20 May 2013 more

Rules of the Game: University of Roehampton: 2013
Strategy and governance: Foundation for Effective Governance, Kiev, 2013
Strategy, innovation and governance, ESCEM, France: 2010
Research paper presentation to LCCGE, Bickbeck, University of London, 28 Oct 2011 more

Rules of the Game: Birkbeck, University of London: 2011
Corporate Governance Workshop, Hatfield, 18 Jun 2015 more

Varities of Capitalists; University of Hertfordshire

Grants

Grants

POSADEM - Positive about Dementia (Erasmus Mundus, 01 Oct 2014). Completed
Dementia Leadership Programme (UK Department of Health, 01 Feb 2013). Completed

External Responsibilities

Milestones Trust, Chair of the Board of Trustees (2018-), https://www.milestonestrust.org.uk/
University of Westminster PhD examination, PhD examiner (2018-)
University of Roehampton PhD examination, PhD examiner (2017-2018)
University of Winchester PhD examination, PhD examiner (2017-2018)
British Academy of Management, Track chair, corporate governance (2016-)
University of Exeter, External Examiner, MSc International Business (2012-2016)
University of Northampton, External examiner for validation event (-2014)

Internal Responsibilities

Programme leader, MSc Corporate Governance
BU liaison for accreditation and programme development, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators
Research cluster leader, Regulation, Corporate Governance and Taxation research cluster
Reviewed papers for light-touch review; coordinated reviewing for cluster, Internal review for REF2020
PhD examiner, FM Department of Leadership, Strategy & Organisations, Faculty of Management
PhD transfer examiner, FMC School of Journalism, English & Communication, Faculty of Media & Communications
PhD transfer examiner, FM Department of Leadership, Strategy & Organisations, Faculty of Management
PhD transfer examiner, FM Department of Leadership, Strategy & Organisations, Faculty of Management
PhD transfer examiner, FM Department of Marketing, Faculty of Management
PhD transfer examiner, FM Department of Leadership, Strategy & Organisations, Faculty of Management
PhD transfer examiner, FM Department of Leadership, Strategy & Organisations, Faculty of Management
PhD transfer examiner, FM Department of Tourism & Hospitality, Faculty of Management
PhD transfer examiner, Business School, Department of Law
Chair, PhD examination, FMC Department of Media Production, Faculty of Media & Communications
Member, University PGR examination committee

Public Engagement & Outreach Activities

Urged the UK Financial Reporting Council to pay attention to the need for professionalisation of the practice of board evaluation as part of its revision of the UK Corporate Governance Code. A letter written jointly with Rebecca Booth, a board service practitioner with the Carey Group Guernsey, and an alumna of the BU MSc in Corporate Governance
Talk to students at University of Southampton on business skills and employment
Invited guest for practitioner/academic exchange on the future of the corporate and its governance, Brussels
Presented the POSADEM project to members of the Dorset Dementia Partnership
Talk on how ethical theory helps us interpret business decisions
Seminar from staff and students describing the process of theory development
Seminar for research students
Challenge conventional thinking on leadership in education
Challenge conventional thinking on higher education
Senior Adviser on corporate governance, The Conference Board of New York, 2005-08
POSADEM - developing a European PG programme about being positive about dementia
PhD student seminar on research philosophies - October 2014
Ontology? Epistemology? It's All Greek to Me - seminar on philosophies of management research
Member of ICAEW working party on XBRL, 1998-2001
Leadership Development for House of Commons senior staff, 2011-14
Leadership development for dementia care CEOs, 2012-14
Festival of Learning 2014 - MOOCs for staff development?
Festival of Learning 2014 - Better Boards, Better Performance
Corporate governance training for Balkan journalists, World Bank/IFC; 2007
Corporate governance briefing for Indian executives, The Conference Board of New York: 2007
Contributed to research on human capital management, The Conference Board of New York: 2006
Contributed to research on Enterprise Risk Management, The Conference Board of New York: 2005

Consultancy Activities

Leadership for Parliament, Training. House of Commons, University of Westminster, 01 Nov 2011

Attended Training

Research supervision for experienced supervisors, 12 May 2015
University of Westminster PG programme, 01 Nov 2011

Qualifications

PhD in Management Studies (University of Liverpool, 2012)
MBA in Strategic Marketing (University of Warwick, 1994)
MA in English (University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, 1973)
AB in English (University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, 1971)
PGCE in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (London Metropolitan University, 2006)

Honours

Visiting Professor of Journalism (City, University of London, 2007)
Best Full Paper in Management and Business History (British Academy of Management, 2016)

Memberships

Academy of Management, Member (2012-),
British Academy of Management, Member (2008-),
Centre for International Business and Sustainability, Founder member (2008-2013),
Chartered Management Institute, Fellow (2016-), http://www.managers.org.uk/
European Academy of Management, Member (2014-2015),
European Group for Organizational Studies, Member (2011-2014),
Higher Education Academy, Fellow (2006-),
ICSA - The Governance Institute, Associate (2013-2018), http://www.icsa.org.uk/
IDEaS - Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship & Strategy, Member (2010-),
Investor Relations Society, Member (1996-2002), http://www.irs.org.uk/
London Centre for Corporate Governance and Ethics, Associate (2010-),
Peter Drucker Society London, Member (2012-2014),

Networks

London Centre for Corporate Governance and Ethics
Alternatives within ... A network of heterodox economists, lawyers and management scholars from Birkbeck University of London, Cass Business School, University of Hertfordshire, University of Leeds, 2nd University of Naples and Bournemouth University

External Media & Press

External Media and Press

What a philosopher and the Thirty Years War tell us about Donald Trump, The Conversation, 16 Feb 2017. https://theconversation.com/what-a-philosopher-and-the-thirty-years-war-tell-us-about-donald-trump-72777
Corporate governance, post-Carillion, Guernsey Press, 24 Apr 2018. https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&pubid=b3a7a6a9-d5c4-49ea-94d5-aefb3f6072a9
Donald Nordberg Discusses Corporate Governance, Sage Knowledge video archive, 03 Oct 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781473956186