Expressions of interest and nominations due 9 March 2026
For more than two decades, the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI) has carried a simple but vital inquiry: What does it mean to be globally responsible?
GRLI’s credibility and impact depend not only on what we do, but on how we govern ourselves while doing it. Our model is intentionally relational, distributed, and values-led — designed to enable stewardship rather than control, and collective responsibility rather than institutional self-preservation.
As part of our renewal and commitment to good governance, GRLI is inviting applications and nominations for governance roles in:
- The GRLI Foundation Board, and
- The GRLI Council’s Guardian Group
What Unites All GRLI Governance Roles
Whether serving on the Board or as a Guardian, those stepping into governance roles at GRLI are invited into shared responsibility for stewarding the inquiry, the ethos, and the enabling conditions that allow the work to remain catalytic.
Your application could unpack the following:
- Your commitment to the core inquiry: What does it mean to be globally responsible?
- How you will contribute to keeping this inquiry alive, visible, and generative (in GRLI and beyond);
- Your approach to collaborative stewardship and ecosystem thinking;
- Examples of catalytic leadership that creates systemic change;
- The networks and perspectives you bring to our collective work;
- Your understanding of governance as enabling transformation rather than institutional control.
All governance roles at GRLI are unpaid and grounded in a spirit of contribution, stewardship, and shared responsibility. They require comfort with ambiguity, respect for difference, and a willingness to work collaboratively across cultures, geographies, and institutional contexts.
The Guardian Group
Stewards of Values, Inquiry, and Partnership Voice
The Guardian Group emerged from a deliberate reflection on GRLI’s governance following the 2013 AGM, as part of an effort to model a globally responsible mode of governance. Guardians are elected from and represent the Council of Partners, working alongside the Board and the Executive Director to ensure that GRLI’s values and ethos are lived, not only stated.
A renewed Terms of Reference
The Guardian Group operates under a new and significantly revised Terms of Reference, updated in 2025. The revised ToR clarifies the Guardians’ role as:
- Upholding and guarding GRLI’s values and guiding principles on behalf of the Partnership
- Stewarding the core inquiry of global responsibility within and beyond GRLI — through action as well as words
- Contributing to good governance by co-designing and co-facilitating transparent and robust processes for Partner representation
- Supporting and shaping Council meetings (including the AGM) and GRLI gatherings
- Identifying and nurturing emerging impact initiatives within the GRLI community
- Contributing to the identification and development of new Partners and Associate Partners, in collaboration with the Support Centre
In-person gathering (expected)
All Guardians-elect are expected to participate in an in-person Guardian gathering at ISCTE Business School (Lisbon):
📍 24–26 May
This gathering is a core part of induction into the Guardian role and will focus on shared understanding of the new ToR, relationship-building, collective sense-making, and stewardship of the Partnership voice going forward.
Deadline: 9 March 2025
The GRLI Foundation Board
Legal, Financial, and Strategic Stewardship
The Board of the GRLI Foundation holds ultimate legal and financial responsibility for the organisation, in line with Belgian law governing foundations of public benefit. The Board stewards GRLI’s strategy, finances, risk, and governance integrity — and supports the Executive Director in ensuring GRLI remains lean, catalytic, and values-led.
Who should apply (Partner-nominated seats)
If you are the senior executive responsible for your Institution’s Partnership with GRLI (e.g. Executive Dean, Rector, C-suite executive) and ready to co-steward this shared inquiry into global responsibility, please submit your expression of interest / nomination by email to:
- Peter Møllgaard (Chair of the GRLI Board): rektor@cbs.dk
Copying: - John North (Executive Director): john.north@grli.org
- Gwen Dereymaeker (Associate Director for Enablement): gwen.dereymaeker@grli.org
Deadline: 9 March 2025
Timing
New Board Members will assume duties in June 2026, joining GRLI at a critical moment when global responsibility must move from phrase to visible, felt, and transformative reality.
A final note
Governance at GRLI is not about authority.
It is about care, continuity, discernment, and collective responsibility for the work — ensuring the inquiry stays alive, and that our way of operating remains consistent with the future we are trying to help shape.
