Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges

The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) is an American higher education association committed to the improvement of academic governing boards and boards of institutionally related foundations—those boards that oversee the workings of colleges, universities, and their foundations. Its mission is to strengthen academic governance through publications, programs, and advocacy. It has more than 1,200 institutional members—universities and colleges of all types (independent and public, four-year and two-year, general and specialized) plus public university and college foundation boards.

From 2011 to 2013, AGB advocated for the Securities and Exchange Commission to exempt college and university board members from having to register as municipal advisors, arguing that "such a requirement could have a chilling impact on the ability of boards to conduct their fiduciary duties, and, in fact, would discourage people from serving on boards." On September 18, 2013, the SEC exempted trustees from having to register as municipal advisors.

Along with the National Association of College and University Business Officers, AGB has been critical of the Internal Revenue Service's Colleges and Universities Compliance Project, stating that such efforts are meant to increase the amount of regulation higher education institutions face. The two groups then conducted an analysis of the responses provided to the IRS, which included only data from colleges and universities that volunteered their surveys to AGB. The analysis was done by Ernst and Young and reported highly positive findings for college and university financial practices.

In July 2009, AGB released a survey of academic governing boards, which was criticized by the president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni for not questioning any trustees.

In 2005, the organization announced that its next president would be appointed without an external search—an unusual decision in the fields of higher education and nonprofits. Richard Legon was AGB's executive vice president before replacing Richard Ingram in January 2006.

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