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Northern College

D - Executive Limitations

Northern College’s President, Vice Presidents, and other key administrative leaders are critical to the College’s continuing viability and growth. A leadership succession plan helps ensure the best use and development of leaders to achieve the College’s strategic plan.

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Referenced from: Board of Governors

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D - Executive Limitations

Background

Northern College’s President, Vice Presidents, and other key administrative leaders are critical to the College’s continuing viability and growth. A leadership succession plan helps ensure the best use and development of leaders to achieve the College’s strategic plan.

Policy

Under the President’s guidance, the College maintains a leadership succession plan that attracts, develops, and retains skilled leaders who ensure the College’s long-term sustainability and continued growth, thereby mitigating potential risks to the leadership of the institution.

The Board and the President shall use the leadership succession plan to provide timely and effective leadership in the event of voluntary or involuntary departures of the President and CEO, Vice Presidents, or other key leaders.

Process

Board’s role in leadership succession

The authority to manage all aspects of leadership succession within the College resides with the President except those matters related to the Board’s employment of the President.

President’s role in leadership succession

To ensure that the College has strong internal leadership and organizational capacity, the President develops and maintains the College’s leadership succession plan. The College’s leadership succession plan will flow from the following assumptions:

  • the President has a rich understanding of the role leadership plays in achieving the College’s strategic plan and demonstrates due diligence in seeking to recruit and develop leaders to meet the College’s strategic objectives;
  • the President maintains a current list of the skills and competencies needed to lead the College in key areas;

Policy #:

D-10

Approved: 2014-03-05

2023-01-24

05-01-23

LEADERSHIP SUCCESSION PLAN

D-10

Approved: 2014-03-05

2023-01-24

05-01-23

  • the President follows a clear and objective process for identifying, assessing, and developing potential leaders from within the College;
  • the President maintains a clear understanding of the current climate and best practices for recruiting and compensating senior management;
  • the College has clear plans and processes in place to mitigate uncertainty in times of leadership change, including the voluntary and involuntary departure of the President and CEO, Vice President(s), and other key administrative staff; and
  • the College has the sufficient organizational capacity to enable internal, interim successor(s) to continue the competent operation of the College in the event of a sudden vacancy of key leadership services.

Northern College’s Board of Governors has approved this policy. The President is accountable to the Board for carrying out this policy.

The Board will ensure that the President conducts themselves within the general executive limitations for the purposes of this policy.

Monitoring

Annually, the President will present the Board with an updated Emergency Succession Plan for Northern College’s Senior Management Team. The College’s leadership succession plan will be reviewed annually and revised as required.

Source: https://www.northerncollege.ca/uploads/2025/07/D10-Leadership-Succession-Plan.pdf