Introduction and Basic Overview

What is a Board of Directors? What Does a Board Look Like?
A corporation, whether for-profit or nonprofit, is required to have a governing Board of Directors. To explain, a corporation can operate as a separate legal entity, much like a person in that it can own bank accounts, enter into contracts, etc. However, the laws governing corporations require that a corporation ultimately is accountable to its owners (stockholders in the case of for-profits and the public with nonprofits). That accountability is accomplished by requiring that each corporation has a Board of Directors that represents the stockholders or the public.
Members of a governing Board have certain legally required (fiduciary) duties, including duties of care, loyalty and obedience (some states and countries use different terms -- for example, in Canada, the duties of care and loyalty are often stressed). For-profit Boards often are referred to as "corporate" Boards, which really is a misnomer because both nonprofit and for-profit corporations are required to have Boards -- not just for-profit corporations.
The phrase "Board operations" often refers to the activities conducted between Board members and can include development and enactment of Board bylaws and other Board policies, recruitment of Board members, training and orientation of Board members, organizing Board committees, conducting Board meetings, conducting Board evaluations, etc. The phrase "governance" often refers to the Board's activities to oversee the purpose, plans and policies of the overall organization, such as establishing those overall plans and policies, supervision of the CEO, ensuring sufficient resources for the organization, ensuring compliance to rules and regulations, representing the organization to external stakeholders, etc. The nature of Board operations and governance depends on a variety of factors, including explicit or implicit use of any particular Board model, the desired degree of formality among Board members and the life-stage of the Board and organization.