NED services help people move into and succeed in non-executive director and board roles. This covers NED and board-readiness training, NED coaching and mentoring, CV and profile support, board search and matching, and professional networks for aspiring and sitting non-executive directors, chairs and trustees.
Compare NED training providers, board search firms and non-executive networks across the UK by what you need, who it is for, type of board, price and independent ratings.
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Mission Match is a UK retained search firm that appoints chairs, non-executive directors (NEDs) and senior executives.
Its main work is board search for chairs, NEDs, independent directors and committee members of private, private equity-backed, public and not-for-profit boards. It also recruits chief executives, finance, operations and people directors and other senior executives, places interim executives, and helps private equity investors assess and appoint leadership teams after an acquisition. Searches follow six stages, from a strategic briefing and market mapping to assessment, longlisting and onboarding, and every candidate is assessed against its cognitive diversity framework. Coaching is offered to senior leaders, new chairs and interview candidates by video call or in person in London, including support through a new leader's first 100 days.
Fees are not published. The firm says each search is led by a partner and that it takes a limited number of mandates. Its founder and partner, Lisa Moses, worked in executive search before senior roles in government, including at the Cabinet Office, and is a qualified civil and commercial mediator. Partner Adria Linder founded a search firm in New York and later led executive search at OakNorth, a UK bank. It is recruiting the first cohort of Mission: Board for All, a mentoring programme that pairs board-ready candidates with experienced NEDs.
Board search firm
NED role matchingBoard search / headhunterPeer network / community
Nurole is a London-based board search specialist for chairs, non-executive directors (NEDs) and trustees, founded in 2014 by headhunter Susie Cummings.
It fills chair, NED, advisor, trustee and governor roles for listed, private equity-backed, privately owned and venture-backed companies, as well as charities, universities, schools, NHS trusts, housing associations and public bodies. It pairs an online platform with search consultants and states it has more than 30 sector experts drawn from search firms. For candidates, its Enter the Boardroom community offers free registration for matched roles and paid memberships. These include a career consultation, a board CV review, online programmes such as Board Pathway and Board Essentials, and monthly roundtables and governance briefings.
Fees for organisations depend on the role and the size and structure of the organisation, and are given on request. Board Director membership costs £799 a year and Chair membership £999 a year. Nurole states that it places about 750 chairs, NEDs and trustees a year. In May 2025 it announced the acquisition of WB Directors, formerly Women on Boards UK, whose women's network now sits within Enter the Boardroom under co-founders Fiona Hathorn and Rachel Tranter. Its chief executive is Oliver Cummings.
Board search firm
NED role matchingBoard search / headhunterNED training & development
GetBoardwise is a UK non-executive director placement and outreach service. Rather than a passive job board, it runs targeted LinkedIn and direct outreach campaigns to CEOs, chairs and founders on behalf of aspiring NEDs and board advisors, and reports more than 400 paid board placements to date.
Matching and placement platform
NED role matchingAdvisory board matchingFor aspiring NEDs
Criticaleye is a London-based peer-to-peer community for board-level leaders, whose UK company, Criticaleye (Europe) Ltd, was incorporated in 2002.
Its members are chief executives, chief financial officers, chief people officers, chairs and non-executive directors (NEDs). Executive Membership gives a senior executive access to the peer network, board mentors and a personal relationship manager. Corporate Membership covers five or more executives from one organisation for at least two years. NED Membership is for chairs, NEDs and senior independent directors, with confidential roundtables and events on governance, risk oversight and boardroom dynamics. The Chair Ready Programme is a 12-month pathway for experienced NEDs and first-time chairs, run through virtual masterclasses and roundtables, and ends with certification. Other formats include pop-up boards, retreats and forums.
Membership prices are not published. The website lists more than 110 board mentors, all of whom have led organisations and now work at board level. A second company, Criticaleye (Asia) Ltd, runs an office in Hong Kong and an Asia leaders membership. The chief executive is Matthew Blagg. Logos on the website include Drax Group, Legal & General, NatWest Group, NATS and Rolls-Royce, though it does not say which are members.
Membership network or professional body
NED training & developmentPeer network / communityGovernance & ESG focus
Reach Volunteering is a London-based charity, set up in 1979, that matches skilled volunteers and trustees with charities and community groups.
Organisations post volunteer and trustee roles on its online platform. People based in the UK with at least three years' professional experience can search and apply, or create a profile so charities can contact them. TrusteeWorks, its paid search service, recruits trustees, chairs and treasurers for charities, academy trusts, hospices and other social purpose organisations. Its consultants run a briefing call, research and direct search, then screen candidates and present a longlist. Timescales are not published.
The service is free for volunteers and most organisations. Trustee roles are free for charities and educational bodies with income under £1 million and other organisations under £250,000; above that, a role costs £200 or £300 plus value added tax (VAT), and an Enhanced option costs £450 plus VAT. TrusteeWorks is priced by quote. Reach is a registered charity (number 278837) and a company limited by guarantee. In 2025 it recorded 5,996 placements, including 1,387 trustee appointments, across 2,440 organisations. After announcing a closure, it says nine funders and donors are now funding it to the end of 2028.
The Non-Executive Directors Exchange (NEDExchange) is a family-run UK service for people seeking non-executive director (NED) roles, set up in 1999.
Members receive a monthly newsletter of NED, chair and trustee vacancies, with details of how to apply and reminders of deadlines. It guarantees at least 45 opportunities a month. Members can also advertise their skills and interests, because the newsletter goes to the companies and recruitment agencies that advertise with it. Organisations can use it to find NEDs, and it publishes member CVs on its website.
Membership prices are not published. It was started by Ray Fox, and since 2022 it has been run by Shirley, Katrina, Danielle and Jade Fox. Recent vacancies on its website include a university chair of council and a charity chair of trustees.
Praesta is a London-based executive coaching firm, run as Praesta Partners LLP, which says it has worked with clients for twenty years.
It offers executive coaching for individual leaders, including people moving into more senior roles, along with team coaching, group coaching for senior leadership groups and board effectiveness work. Group coaching combines one-to-one sessions with workshops and can be a one-off or part of a wider leadership change programme. Board work centres on a board performance review using individual interviews, surveys and observation of meetings. Clients come from technology, media, manufacturing, transport, financial and professional services, consumer goods and the public and third sectors. Session numbers, programme length and delivery format are not published.
Prices are not published. The coaches page lists 19 coaches, two of whom are described as accredited at Professional Certified Coach (PCC) level by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Praesta belongs to Praesta Global, a network of coaching firms in France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Spain and the UK. It states that it never names the organisations or individuals it works with.
NED training & developmentFor experienced NEDsFor chairs
London, United KingdomNo Google or Trustpilot reviews
The Non-Executive Directors' Association (NEDA) is a membership body for non-executive directors, set up in 2007 and based in Littlewick Green, Berkshire.
It trains aspiring, new and experienced non-executive directors (NEDs). Courses include one-day NED Training and Certification sessions, held online or in person, Finance for Non-Finance Directors, and a course on audit and risk committees, some run with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). The certification course gives access to an open-book, multiple-choice NED Certificate Test based on The Non-Executive Directors' Handbook, which NEDA publishes. It also offers one-to-one coaching and mentoring for NEDs, and services for organisations including annual board performance evaluations, a NED Development Programme and recruitment.
The October 2026 online certification course costs £895 plus VAT, or £780 plus VAT for Premium members, and includes six months of Premium membership. Premium membership costs £195 including VAT for the first year and £75 a year after that, and a free tier is available. Coaching prices are not published. NEDA is run by Non-Executive Directors Training and Publishing Limited, with Graham Durgan as chairman and Nick Blackwell as chief executive.
Membership network or professional body
NED training & developmentPeer network / communityJob board
Littlewick Green, Berkshire, United KingdomNo Google or Trustpilot reviews
Perrett Laver is an employee-owned executive search firm with a board practice, registered in London and incorporated in 2001.
Its board practice recruits chairs and non-executive directors (NEDs), including chairs of audit, finance, remuneration and risk committees. Clients come from higher education, charities, arts and culture, sport, research and innovation, the environment and government. Beyond search, it advises on specialist board portfolios, board diversity and succession planning, and runs a governance apprenticeship programme for universities. The firm has 21 offices across the Americas, Europe, the UK, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
Fees are not published. The firm states it is 100% employee owned through an employee-owned trust and has more than 160 staff, working with clients in more than 70 countries. Recent board clients it lists include UK Research and Innovation, Sport England, the Natural History Museum and the University of Cambridge.
Board search firm
NED role matchingBoard search / headhunterJob board
The Financial Times (FT) Non-Executive Director Club is the alumni network of the FT Board Director Programme, set up in 2004 and run in London and Asia.
Membership is open to graduates of the FT Non-Executive Director (NED) Diploma and to people who have taken its courses. Members are invited to regular speaking and networking events and receive a monthly digital newsletter on legislation, governance news and job opportunities. The programme behind the Club runs the six-month Diploma, a two-day Effective Non-Executive Director Programme workshop, a one-day workshop on getting a first NED role, self-paced online courses of 3 to 4 hours each, and in-house board training for organisations delivered in person, online or in a hybrid format.
No separate fee for the Club is published. The UK Diploma costs £8,925 in person or £7,525 virtually, excluding VAT (value added tax), and the Asia Diploma costs £10,250 in person. The Certificate in Board Effectiveness, made up of four online courses, costs £1,750 plus VAT. The Diploma states it is approved by Pearson Education Limited as meeting the criteria for Pearson's Self Regulated Framework, and legal content in two of its modules was updated by Slaughter and May in January 2025. Its faculty are practising non-executive directors and chairs.
Training provider
NED training & developmentPeer network / communityGovernance & ESG focus
London, United KingdomNo Google or Trustpilot reviews
Boardroom Advisors is a UK network, established in 2016, that places part-time and fractional board members with SMEs and scale-ups: non-executive directors, chairs, board advisors, mentors and fractional executives across finance, sales, marketing, HR, IT and operations. It works through a regional director model, with more than 200 experienced advisors in the UK and offices in Ireland, Spain and Portugal, and engagements starting from as little as one day per quarter.
Matching and placement platform
NED role matchingAdvisory board matchingFor chairs
Bristol, United KingdomNo Google or Trustpilot reviews
Winmark NED Network is the non-executive director (NED) network run by Winmark, a London-based membership organisation for C-suite executives, founded in 1997.
Members meet at evening sessions in London and can attend masterclasses that carry continuing professional development (CPD) points. Winmark's Board Leadership Certificate is a series of four half-day masterclasses, one of them on moving from executive to non-executive roles. They are free to full members and cost £300 to £1,000 for non-members. It also offers NED and board mentoring, four two-hour sessions over a year for £5,000 plus VAT. Membership fees are not published.
With the Financial Times Board Director Programme, Winmark co-published How to Become a Successful Non-Executive Director (third edition, 2024).
Membership network or professional body
NED training & developmentPeer network / communityGovernance & ESG focus
