In recent conversations with boards, I’ve noticed that very different governance challenges are increasingly being bundled into a single recruitment brief: “we need someone with technology and AI experience.”
In NCVO’s 2024 research into trustee recruitment and retention, large and major charities identified technology as the most common skills gap on their boards, reported by 35% of respondents, followed by artificial intelligence at 29%.
As with any recruitment process, you must start by identifying the challenges you are trying to address. These might include understanding how AI could shape your services or fundraising, exploring new business models and ways of working, managing cyber security and data risks, modernising legacy technology, or ensuring technology supports a broader organisational change programme.
What technology and AI expertise does your board actually need?
If the board doesn’t already have some understanding of technology, defining what it needs can be difficult. But you don’t need to understand the technology in detail to start working out where the gaps are.
Begin with what you already use and what the organisation is trying to achieve:
- What systems underpin your services, fundraising, finance and operations?
- Where are you investing in new technology, and why?
- What is working well and where are outdated systems, poor integration or gaps in data creating problems?
Talk to the executive team and the people responsible for technology about what they expect to change over the next one to three years.
Then look beyond the technology itself to think about wider challenges. Are you trying to improve how services are delivered, generate income, use data more effectively or oversee a major transformation?
In a recent process, I challenged whether the board really needed a technology specialist or was actually looking for someone who understood how technology could contribute to commercial growth. These are quite different briefs and will lead you towards different people.
Technology, digital transformation, data and AI can easily become grouped together on a board skills matrix, but they shouldn’t be treated as the same requirement. A trustee with experience of large-scale digital transformation, or cyber security may not be an AI expert. An AI specialist may have deep knowledge of emerging tools without having led organisation-wide technology change.
Look at the decisions the board is likely to face as technology develops too. Take data as an example. An organisation might consider whether the data it holds could generate income, but that raises very different questions when it contains sensitive information about the people the charity exists to support. The board may need someone who can help it understand the opportunity while also thinking through the ethical, safeguarding and reputational implications.
What should you look for in candidates?
Look for relevant experience, not just technical knowledge
Technology can affect almost every part of an organisation, so look beyond conventional technology careers for people whose experience connects with the challenge you’re trying to address.
Look at what candidates have actually been responsible for and how closely that relates to the challenge you’ve identified. Have they commissioned major technology, led an organisation through digital change or dealt with difficult decisions around data, cyber security or AI? What happened as a result, and what did they learn when things didn’t go to plan?
Can they make complex technology understandable?
Some of the strongest technology leaders I’ve met are particularly good at translating complex issues, connecting technology with what the organisation is trying to achieve and bringing people with them. A trustee needs to be able to do the same: explaining why an issue matters without assuming everyone shares their knowledge, while giving other trustees enough understanding to ask questions and reach their own judgement.
They also need to be able to look ahead. One technology leader described her role as constantly thinking “10 steps ahead”. Technology develops quickly, so part of the value someone can bring is an ability to consider what might be coming next and what today’s decisions could mean further down the line. During recruitment, explore how candidates think about emerging opportunities and risks, rather than concentrating solely on the technologies they already know.
Reconsider your need for previous trustee experience
Previous trustee experience shouldn’t necessarily be a prerequisite. Some of the people with the most relevant technology and AI experience may have progressed quickly through their careers without yet becoming trustees or non-executives.
The assessment should look at whether someone can take the time to understand the responsibilities of trusteeship, can operate at the right level and has the judgement to contribute beyond their own area of expertise. A long list of technical qualifications and previous board roles could significantly narrow the field without necessarily bringing you closer to the person your board actually needs.
How to make the most of specialist technology expertise on your board
Once someone with technology or AI expertise joins the board, there can be a tendency for everyone to look to them whenever the subject comes up. The risk is that they become ‘the technology trustee’, rather than their experience strengthening how the whole board thinks about technology. Or more importantly, they may not then contribute to areas outside of technology, and we do want our Trustees to contribute across a number of areas, not just their specialism.
Their perspective may also be relevant far beyond a dedicated technology item on the agenda. Decisions about future services could involve AI or digital access, while conversations about income, workforce or organisational risk may raise questions around data, changing skills, cyber security or third-party systems.
The Chair has an important role in ensuring the right expertise is brought into the right conversations, while creating opportunities for the rest of the board to develop its own understanding. Trustees remain collectively responsible for their decisions, regardless of who around the table has the deepest knowledge.
As with all trustee roles, boundaries are important. Recruiting someone with a technology background doesn’t give the organisation a volunteer IT consultant. Their experience should help the board scrutinise decisions and consider risks, without their involvement drifting into operations. Have we thought enough about what this person, when appointed, would be coming into? Is the organisation at the start of its technological journey, with maybe one member of staff or a consultant? Trustees are not there to be operational, so have we thought through how they will work with our team, or what they expect to be in place?
Rather than filling a trustee position with a technology specialist, some organisations are exploring whether co-opting someone to a board committee might better meet their needs. This approach lets boards bring in specific expertise while giving individuals a chance to develop their understanding of charity governance and the responsibilities of trusteeship, especially for those new to the sector or who are conscious of their availability to commit fully to a Trustee role.
If you’re looking to recruit a digital, technology or AI expert to your board, please get in touch with Jennifer Horan, Head of Board Appointments.
