Associate Professional Directors Association

Associate Professional Directors Association.

Become an Associate of The Professional Directors Association. There are no charges for Associate Membership and it entitles you to use the prestigious letters A.PDA after your name, such as:

  • Giles Mason A.PDA

Do not delay; it may change soon. Additional benefits include:

  • One invitation a quarter to attend a complimentary Director Training session
  • Complimentary subscription to the private circulation Director Newsletter
  • Advance notice of new courses and developments for Directors

An Institute of Leadership and Management Recognised Training Centre for Director Courses.

To qualify for Associate Membership, you must be a Director or a Director Designate. Membership is only open to directors committed to the highest standards of professional directorship, including Corporate Governance, ESG and Financial Management. Our members are invested in protecting and promoting the climate in a sustainable manner that will leave a positive legacy for the next generation, as well as supporting a successful future for their employees and other stakeholders.

A Chartered Management Institute Recognised Training Centre for Director Training Courses.

Please look at our 100Trees Planting and Carbon Dioxide Reduction Initiative

Professional Directors Association Associate Member

  • Net Zero Carbon; Carbon Neutral Footprint Climate Objectives

    We will reduce our carbon footprint and those of our members and programme delegates.  Together, we and our clients will help the planet to breathe, by becoming Net Zero for COemissions.  We will achieve this by:

    • Planting 100 trees for every programme delegate day attended (we will measure and judge our success on this factor alone)
    • Funding the Planting of trees to offset our own COemissions.  We have already planted over 6,000 trees
    • Educating and encouraging our clients to take further steps to reduce their COemissions



    Please look at our 100Trees Planting and Carbon Dioxide Reduction Initiative

    We plant 100 trees for every delegate course day, plus we make a bonus planting of several hundred extra trees, when a director completes our full Certificate Board Director Course Program.

    The total trees planted for every one of our Company Board Director Certificate holders will be enough to qualify them as being “Net Zero Carbon”. If they attend just 3 days of our training courses modules, we would plant 300 trees for them; offsetting 3,690kg, or 23%, of their annual CO2 emissions.

    Net Zero Carbon Footprint. Once they attend our full Company Board Director Certificate Program, we will plant enough trees to offset 100% of their annual CO2CO2 emissions.  They would become Net Zero within a year, or faster if they adopt the Accelerated Company Board Director Certificate Program!

    We will help you to Net Zero Carbon. We plant 100 trees per delegate day. Please click here for more details of our 100Trees Climate Carbon Dioxide Reduction Initiative

  • Professional Directors Association Business Objectives

    Our goal is to train and qualify at least one Director on every UK Board and as many directors as possible in the rest of the world. This will improve the quality and effectiveness of all Boards and their companies. This will in turn increase their positive impact upon the following areas:

    • Investing in their employees
    • Dealing fairly with their supply chain
    • supporting the communities in which they work
    • Protecting the climate
    • Leaving a positive legacy for the next generations
    • Generating long term value for their shareholders


    Any profits from fee paying members and Company Board Director Qualification Programme delegates will mainly be used to improve the quality of our Director services and to provide free training and other corporate services to directors and organisations who cannot afford to pay themselves.

  • Professional Directors Association Our Membership

    The Professional Directors Association is a membership body exclusively for Directors, Director Designates and Director level Senior Executives. It includes Chief Executives, Chairs, Non-Executive Directors, Private Equity Investors, Bankers, Senior Consultants and Executive Directors.

    Membership is only open to directors committed to the highest standards of professional directorship, including Leadership, Sustainability, Corporate Governance, ESG and Financial Management.

    Our members are committed to investing in their employees, dealing fairly with their supply chain and supporting the communities in which they work. They will generate long term value for their shareholders, whilst being invested in protecting and promoting the climate in a sustainable manner. That will leave a positive legacy for the next generation as well as supporting a successful future for their employees and other stakeholders.

    Please look at our 100Trees Planting and Carbon Dioxide Reduction Initiative

  • Professional Director Association Courses and In-House Company Board Director Qualification Programmes

    The Company Board Director Qualification Programmes can be delivered as an in-house Director Development Programme at your premises.

    The Professional standards of the Professional Directors Association encompass our standard scheduled training courses and our in-house single company courses, which can be delivered as internal training courses at your premises or at any other suitable location. Even with small groups, the fees per person may be lower than for open in-person courses. Especially once the travel costs and the travel time of the delegates are taken into account.

    Please click here information about In-House Courses for Director Training and Development

  • Company Board Director Qualification Programme Certificates of Professional Development

    Company Board Director Diploma programme delegates will have previously been awarded the Company Board Director Certificate qualification. This will already have demonstrated competency in all four of the core Board Directorship areas.

    Success on the Company Board Director Diploma programme will provide further evidence of the expert knowledge that has already been demonstrated by the award of the Company Board Director Certificate. This additional evidence will be achieved through success in all four of the Board Director Diploma examination modules; one for each of the four core competency areas. Upon success at the four multiple choice examinations, the directors will be awarded the Company Board Director Diploma qualification.

    The high level and prestigious Board Director Diploma qualification will only be awarded to those directors who demonstrate a commitment and expertise across all four of the core competency areas. This achievement will put you in a different league to most other Board Directors. It will authorise you to write the following words or letters after your name:

    Company Board Director Diploma or B.D. Dip.

    The Company Board Director Diploma programme is a comprehensive director qualification that is fully audited and recognised by the Professional Directors Association. It and the Company Board Director Certificate are fully validated qualifications. These are endorsed and quality controlled by the Professional Directors Association.

    In addition the component courses are recognised as separate qualifications in their own right. Upon the completion of a component course you would be issued with a professional certificate validating your CPD hours. The four component courses covered by the Board Director Certificate package are:

    • Board Director Roles and Responsibilities; Chartered Management Institute recognised.The certificates awarded for this course will carry their logo alongside that of the Professional Directors Association
    • Strategy for Board Directors; Chartered Management Institute recognised. The certificates awarded for this course will carry their logo alongside that of the Professional Directors Association
    • Leadership for Board Directors; approved by the Institute of Leadership and Management. The certificates awarded for this course will carry their logo alongside that of the Professional Directors Association
    • Finance for Non-Finance Directors; Chartered Management Institute recognised. The certificates awarded for this course will carry their logo alongside that of the Professional Directors Association


    The Company Board Director Diploma Qualification will be recognised for CPD purposes by most professional institutes and associations including the Law Society, the CIM, the CMI, the ICAEW, the Institute of Learning and the CIPD. Upon completion of the Board Director Certificate Course, you will be issued with the professional Board Director Certificate.

    Formal Certificates of Professional Development will be issued to delegates for each of the separate component courses of the Company Board Director Certificate, which will validate your CPD hours. The component courses are all recognised as separate qualifications in their own right.

    To ensure the directors attending this Company Board Director Diploma training programme will obtain the maximum possible benefit from their time spent on the course, the Director numbers will be limited to a maximum of 8 within each cohort.