Nasdaq Wants You

As part of a broad strategy to provide services outside of its core listing service, Nasdaq is targeting board members with a series of offerings. In addition to Carpenter Moore, a directors and officers (D&O) insurance broker that it purchased two years ago, the electronic exchange is branching into recruitment, education, and technology for boards.

This past summer, Nasdaq launched Board Recruiting, which it bills as “a place for directors to meet.” It is essentially an online dating service for boards looking to recruit new members. Companies can sign up to look at profiles of potential board members. If a company ends up placing a director it found on the service, it pays a $20,000 finder’s fee. Bruce Aust, executive vice president of Nasdaq’s Corporate Client Group, says that is less than what full-service recruiting firms charge. So far, about 2,000 people have posted profiles on the database. Currently, there is no cost to post a profile, but Aust says that there will eventually be a charge to be included in the database.

Then in late June, Nasdaq acquired Directors Desk, a Washington-based firm that provides technology tools to boards. The product gives secure online access to documents and schedules, and provides automated record keeping, voting, and web conferencing capabilities. “It empowers boards to be more effective,” says Aust. He says that until recently, boards have operated in a fairly low-tech environment. Nasdaq’s own board went live with Directors Desk in September.

Nasdaq has also launched programs, acquired businesses, or partnered with other companies to provide investor relations assistance, communications services, and SOX-compliance help. “We want to give executives the tools that they need to be a public company. That’s our strategy,” says Aust.