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For Aisling McGettigan, Head of Finance and Operations at Athletic Ventures, completing the Australian Institute of Company Directors' (AICD) Company Directors Course™ (CDC) was about more than expanding her governance knowledge. It was an opportunity to better understand the responsibilities, risks and mindset required to operate effectively at the board level.
Having spent years presenting and reporting to boards, McGettigan had already gained valuable exposure to governance processes. But as her career progressed, she recognised the need for a deeper understanding of what it truly means to be a director.
She had long viewed the CDC as an important step in her professional development and waited until she had accumulated sufficient board-facing experience to maximise its value.
"I had decided that it was something that I wanted to do for my professional development when I got to the point where I had been presenting and reporting to boards and had had that board-level exposure but wanted to take on a deeper understanding of what it meant to have the responsibility as a board director, the risks involved and the personal liability involved."
That deeper understanding was exactly what the course delivered.
"The Company Directors Course™ deepened my understanding of governance by giving me the director's mindset required to operate at this level," McGettigan explains. "Facilitating an understanding of how compliance, strategy, risk, and finance all sit together and operate as custodians of the underlying company."
For professionals moving towards board or executive leadership roles, understanding how these different disciplines intersect is crucial. McGettigan says the course helped connect the dots between areas that are often considered separately in management roles, providing a more holistic view of governance and organisational stewardship.
Building a director's mindset through governance education
A standout feature of the experience was the face-to-face learning environment. The in-person format brought together participants from a broad range of industries, backgrounds and career stages, creating opportunities to learn not only from the course content and facilitators, but from fellow participants.
"The in-person format of the CDC massively enhanced my learning experience because it brought a diverse group of people together from various backgrounds," she says.
The collaborative nature of the program encouraged participants to challenge assumptions, share perspectives and work through complex governance scenarios together.
"It gave us the opportunity to work together in a collaborative way and present ideas that each of us individually may not have come up with on our own."
For McGettigan, the peer-to-peer learning proved just as valuable as the formal teaching.
"Learning as much from them, from the peer group, as I did from the facilitators was really incredible."
Why experienced directors wish they had completed the CDC sooner
One of the most unexpected takeaways came from conversations with more experienced directors in the room. While McGettigan enrolled to strengthen her governance capabilities early in her leadership journey, she was surprised to hear seasoned directors reflect on the benefits they believed the course would have provided earlier in their own careers.
"A really valuable insight that I took from the course, which I hadn't expected, was the number of senior directors in the room who had a decade or more experience than me, who came to me and said, we wish we had completed the course at your level."
Those comments reinforced the value of investing in governance education before stepping into a board role. According to McGettigan, many experienced directors believed the knowledge and frameworks gained through the CDC could have shaped their decision -making and board contributions over many years.
"They said that it would have given them insights and knowledge that they could have taken with them for the next decade of their directorships."
That feedback ultimately validated her decision to undertake the course when she did.
"And that, to me, really solidified my decision to do the Company Directors Course™ at this stage in my career."
For McGettigan, the CDC delivered both practical knowledge and a strategic perspective. By deepening her understanding of governance, broadening her network and helping her adopt a director's mindset, the course has strengthened her ability to contribute at the board level today and equipped her for future directorship opportunities.
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