Becoming a Fellow

Your Fellow application will be assessed across: 


1. Mandatory eligibility criteria
2. Experience criteria

3. Contribution criteria

You must meet ALL Mandatory criteria to proceed with your application.
 

1. Mandatory eligibility

• You must have the requisite knowledge, experience, good standing, and professionalism befitting a member holding the status of Fellow.
• You must have held AICD membership for at least the past three consecutive years.
• You have met the mandatory requirement of 60 Director Professional Development (DPD) units (as shown on your online membership account dashboard).
• You must be either:
  • a GAICD with a minimum of 6 years’ experience as a director or senior government official within the past 12 years
    or

  • an MAICD with a minimum of 10 years’ experience as a director or senior government official within the past 12 years.

Once you’ve satisfied all the Mandatory criteria, you can move on to the Experience criteria.

2. Experience criteria

Below is an outline of the organisational profile criteria considered when assessing your director experience.

You have fully met the Experience criteria if:

• you’ve had the requisite amount of director experience in the past 12 years (i.e. at least 6 years for GAICDs and at least 10 for MAICDs); and
• ALL the organisations at which you served during that time meet ALL the organisational profile criteria listed in the table above.
  

If you fully meet the criteria, your application is complete and you can submit it for approval.

You have partially met the experience criteria if:

• you’ve had the requisite amount of director experience in the past 12 years (i.e. at least 6 years for GAICDs and at least 10 for MAICDs); and
• ALL the organisations at which you served during that time meet at least one (but not all) its organisational profile criteria listed in the table above.
  

If you only partially meet the Experience criteria, you will need to supplement your experience with Contribution information to proceed with your application.

If you don’t at least partially meet the experience criteria, but would like to discuss your experience, please contact our Membership team on 1300 739 119 or email us at membership@aicd.com.au.

3. Contribution criteria


You only need to consider the Contribution criteria if you don’t fully meet the Experience criteria above. You will need a minimum of 20 points of Contribution criteria, which can be chosen from the following categories:

AICD participation criteria (20 points for one or more of the below)

• You have actively participated in AICD committees such as the AICD Policy Committee, Law Committee, Chairs Forum, NFP Committee or First Nations Committee.
• You have made significant contributions as an AICD board member.
• You have completed at least one term on a Divisional Council or the AICD Board.
• You have actively mentored and encouraged First Nations participation or been an AICD program mentor (e.g. for the First Nations or Disability scholarship or the Chair’s Mentoring Program).
• You have delivered multiple in-depth presentations at significant AICD events like the Australian Governance Summit (AGS).

Board contribution criteria (20 points for one or more of the below)

• You have chaired or participated in risk, remuneration or nomination committees, especially on NFP boards.
• You have contributed across NFP, ASX and/or public sector boards by leading significant exits like trade sales, restructuring charities, and guiding applications beyond business-as-usual events.
• You have contributed across NFP, ASX and/or public sector boards by leading mergers and acquisitions, organisational restructures, ASX listings, overseas expansions, large contracts, capital raising and demergers.

Other relevant career experience criteria (10 points for one or both of the below)

• You have a minimum of 5 years’ C-Suite experience in executive roles and reporting to boards (e.g. held various leadership positions in NGOs, charities or large government entities).
  
• You have led start-ups and created good governance structures.
• You have published influential or impactful research in the field of governance.

Award and milestone criteria (10 points for one or both of the below)

• You have received awards such as the Order of Australia, been made a Life Fellow of other organisations or been named CEO Magazine’s Executive of the Year/CEO of the Year.
• You have served significant tenures (at least 20 years) as a director and member of the AICD.

Extra-curricular criteria (5 points)

• You are a long-serving AICD member (15+ years) who has mentored other directors, demonstrating your commitment to advancing knowledge and leadership within the director community.

Faculty member criteria (5 points for one or both of the below)

• You have actively participated in forums or mentor programs, beyond their paid function.
• You have consistently contributed to the AICD beyond paid work (e.g. at AICD events)

Once you’ve identified your 20 points of Contribution criteria, you can provide a written response (up to 300 words) supporting this criteria before submitting your application.

• You will need to provide details of your relevant experience as outlined in the criteria above. Details include the name, size (number of employees), gross revenue and gross asset information of each relevant organisation, as well as your directorship start and end dates. 

• You will also need to provide the name and contact details of 2 referees who have known you for at least 3 years (but are not family members), as well as a written reference (saved as a PDF) from each referee. 


  
  Referees must be either:
  • current, retired or former AICD Fellows
  • members of the Division Council Committee
  • AICD executive management
  • Chairs of boards you have served on
  • Fellows of other professional associations. 
  
  Each written reference must contain the following information:
  • The referee’s full name, address, phone number, email address, title and company name.
  • Some context on how and for how long the referee has known you.
  • Confirmation that your referee vouches for you in terms of your professional career, ethical standing and good character.
  • The referee’s original or electronic signature.
  
  To save time, feel free to download our reference template and pass it on to your referees.