Course CatalogueÂ
Athena Academy
A year-round curriculum in board readiness, AI fluency, leadership, entrepreneurship, career architecture, and more.
How it works
One architecture, every course
Four consecutive weeks. Ninety minutes a session. Instructive, Socratic and hands on — with office hours every week and every session recorded.
Consecutive weeks
One module a week, same day and time, start to finish.
Minutes a session
Highly engaging — the right blend of instructive, Socratic and hands on.
Office hours each week
Designed with the cohort, for troubleshooting and going deeper.
Every session recorded
For the unavoidable weeks you can’t be there live.
ATHENA ACADEMY
When each course opens
Every course stands on its own — start with whichever one you want, and take as few or as many as you like. Each segment’s two courses open in different months, so nothing you might want to take runs against itself.
Portfolio of Impact™
Architect Your Portfolio
2026
Oct 2
2027
Jan · Apr · Jul · Oct
Targeted Search & Actionable Networking
2026
Nov 4
2027
Feb · May · Aug · Nov
Leadership
Building Your AI Agent
2026
Oct 5
2027
Jan · Apr · Jul · Oct
Leading in the Age of AI
2026
First cohort in 2027
2027
Mar · Jul · Nov
Governance
Boardroom Fundamentals
2026
Runs inside the autumn intensive
2027
Feb · May · Aug · Nov
Board Fit & Positioning
2026
Runs inside the autumn intensive
2027
Mar · Jun · Sep · Dec
Investing
Understanding Private Market Capital and Investing
2026
Runs inside the autumn intensive
2027
Jan · May · Sep
Understanding the VC and PE Landscape
2026
Runs inside the autumn intensive
2027
Feb · Jun · Oct
athena academy
The Portfolio of Impact™
Five dimensions: Lead, Govern, Invest, Create, Inspire. Each course maps to the dimension it builds. These aren’t the only path to growth in that dimension — they’re the courses we’ve found move a portfolio forward the most.
Assessment
Which courses are right for you?
Take our Portfolio of Impact assessment to see where your career stands today, explore where you want to take it next, and determine which Academy courses will get you there.
Calendar
The Year at a Glance
Five courses run four times a year and three courses run three times a year, so two or three cohorts open in most months. All times appear in your time zone. Sessions landing on a US holiday roll forward one week. The Academy is closed the week of Thanksgiving and from December 21 to January 7.
Fall 2026
Two combined intensives
Governance · 9 weeks
Governance Intensive [FULL]
Boardroom Fundamentals and Board Fit & Positioning taught as one continuous nine-week arc: how boards actually operate across the full landscape of capital structure, scale, business model and industry, and then where you fit in it and how to be seen. Wednesdays, two hours per session.
- Boardroom Fundamentals
- Board Fit & Positioning
Faculty
Led by Erin Essenmacher, with guest board directors and recruitment experts throughout.
Length
Dates
Wednesdays, nine sessions · one session rolls forward for a holiday
Start
Invest · 9 weeks
Investing Intensive
Private Market Capital and The VC & PE Landscape taught as one continuous nine-week arc: how private companies are capitalized and how deals are done, and then the fund landscape those deals live inside — economics, judgment metrics, engagement and exits. Thursdays, two hours per session.
- Understanding Private Market Capital and Investing
- Understanding the VC and PE Landscape
Faculty
Led by Lilia Shirman, with guest experts from venture, private equity, banking and academia.
Length
Dates
Thursdays, nine sessions
Start
Eight courses, opening year-round
Courses & Descriptions
Architect Your Portfolio
A guided framework for designing your Portfolio of Impact™ — blending entrepreneurship, operating roles, board seats, advisory work, consulting, teaching, speaking and more into the right combination for you, to give you flexibility, optionality, the income you need or want, and the agency and freedom to be in control.
You experience a guided process with Athena’s proprietary framework to understand where you are today, where you want to be in 3–5 years, and again in 7–10. With this framework you build a dynamic plan to create the future you envision, so transitions are not a threat and you have a purpose aligned income stream.
FACULTY
This course is led by Coco Brown, Athena’s Founder & CEO. Coco has worked with thousands of leaders as they rise, pivot and embrace a career that is composed rather than climbed. Her expertise is centered around helping individuals move from a single-threaded climb to a multidimensional portfolio inclusive of board work, advising and consulting, entrepreneurship, speaking, teaching and investing.
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Targeted Search & Actionable Networking
Most networking advice stops at “build relationships” — this course gets specific. You’ll learn to work backward from a goal (a board seat, an investor intro, a hire, a customer) to the exact people who can move you there, then use Athena’s proprietary Network Activation Engine to surface those relationships across both your network and Athena’s. Rather than broadcasting asks, you’ll learn to identify the shortest credible path to a specific person, craft the ask that earns a warm introduction, and build a repeatable system for turning “I know someone” into “here’s the intro, and here’s what to say.” The result is a networking practice that is targeted and actionable, supported by a tool that shows you what to do.
FACULTY
This course is led by Athena’s Member Engagement Advisors and expert strategists. These individuals have worked with thousands of Athena members over ten years, supporting 600 women to corporate boards and hundreds more as they’ve climbed, diversified, and broken into new ventures.
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Boardroom Fundamentals
A foundational deep-dive into how boards operate — fiduciary duty, committee structure, board dynamics, and the unwritten rules of the room. 87% of companies over $100m in revenue are private, and only 2% of the board landscape that brings on independent directors are public companies. You are 30x more likely to serve on a private board than a public one. With this course we help you truly understand how boards function differently across the landscape of capital structure, scale, business model and industry.
This autumn it runs inside the nine-week Governance Intensive, beginning September 16, 2026. Its own cohorts open in February 2027.
FACULTY
This course is led by Erin Essenmacher, Chair of Athena’s Governance Advisory Board, who is responsible for significant growth and core programming in governance at Athena and, previously, at NACD as President and Chief Strategy Officer. Throughout the course the cohort engages with top board directors sitting on public, venture backed, private equity, ESOP and family owned boards.
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Board Fit & Positioning
There are 125,000 boards in the US alone that recruit for independent directors. Discover where you best fit in that landscape based on four key variables — capital structure, scale, business model, and industry. Sharpen your board narrative and learn to identify the seats where your experience is the strongest match. Covers personal brand, board bios, and how nominating committees evaluate candidates across a wide range of board structures and styles. Leverage Athena’s proprietary Network Activation Engine to target your search.
This autumn it runs inside the nine-week Governance Intensive, beginning September 16, 2026. Its own cohorts open in March 2027.
FACULTY
This course is led by Rochelle Campbell, who leads Athena’s Branded Career Portfolio Package and is an expert in board recruitment and positioning. Rochelle previously built the board recruitment practice at NACD. Throughout the course the cohort engages with top experts in the board landscape and personal positioning.
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Building Your AI Agent
A hands-on course where you’ll build a working AI agent from scratch — no engineering background required. Over the span of this course you will bring your agent to life, enable it to operate as the Chief of Staff for your career, and give it the humanity that represents you and your values.
FACULTY
This course is led by AJ Thomas, an expert in AI agent development for individuals and entrepreneurs. AJ’s background as a speaker, conference emcee, entertainer and coach makes her uniquely suited to guide your build of a human first AI agent.
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Leading in the Age of AI
A strategic look at leading AI adoption as an operational executive. Athena has delivered this course for cohorts of top executives across a range of companies including Workday, the USPS, Pax8 and Quinstreet. While often brought in to deliver it inside a company, Athena also runs it as an open enrollment offering as part of Athena Academy. The course offers expert guidance across strategy, organization design, risk and governance, and human change. It is designed for the leader in an operational role today.
FACULTY
This course is led by Jocelyn King, who has led a version of it for Athena for four years and taken hundreds of leaders through executive level transformation journeys blending strategy leadership with people leadership. She is a CEO, 3X startup co-founder, and 20-year Silicon Valley tech executive across CMO, CRO, and CGO roles. Jocelyn is also an executive coach to CEOs and board members and a certified Neurosculptor™. She is joined throughout the course by guest experts with similar top tier credentials.
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Understanding Private Market Capital and Investing
Private markets are where most value is now created, and where most professionals are least fluent. Whether your interest is board work or being a great executive or entrepreneur, you must understand how private companies are capitalized. This course demystifies how private capital works. You’ll learn the investment process end to end — sourcing, screening, due diligence, negotiation, close — and the instruments that carry it: direct equity, convertible notes, SAFEs, and crowdfunding. Whether you’re deploying capital, joining a board, negotiating your own equity, or advising founders, this course gives you the literacy that lets you sit in the room and understand what’s being decided.
This autumn it runs inside the nine-week Investing Intensive, beginning September 17, 2026. Its own cohorts open in January 2027.
FACULTY
This course is led by Lilia Shirman, Managing Partner of Falcon Peak Capital and Venture Partner at West Coast Equity Partners. Lilia is a rare expert in all three domains of operator, founder, and investor. She studied Engineering at UC Berkeley and Management Science at Stanford. Lilia brings in incredible guest experts, from angel investors to VCs and PE leaders, professors of entrepreneurial finance, and lawyers who’ve negotiated hundreds of deal terms and structures.
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Understanding the VC and PE Landscape
Capital isn’t one thing — it’s a landscape of very different players with very different economics, time horizons, and appetites for control. This course maps that terrain: angels and angel groups, venture funds, growth equity, private equity, family offices and crossover funds — who invests at what stage, in what size, with what rights, and what each one needs to happen in order to win.
You’ll go inside the fund itself: the GP/LP relationship, management fees and carried interest, capital calls and recycling, the roles on an investment team, and how funds are actually judged — IRR, TVPI, DPI, MOIC — including why those numbers can flatter a fund that isn’t performing. You’ll learn how sophisticated LPs diligence a GP, and what questions separate a real track record from a good story.
From there the course turns to what happens after the check clears: portfolio engagement that helps rather than micromanages, and the full range of exits — acquisitions, acquihires, IPOs, secondaries and wind-downs. It closes on you: asset allocation across the private/public mix, the entity and tax mechanics that quietly determine your returns (trusts, LLCs, K-1s, QSBS), and a written thesis for how you’ll participate — as an LP, a direct investor, a board member, or an advisor.
This autumn it runs inside the nine-week Investing Intensive, beginning September 17, 2026. Its own cohorts open in February 2027.
FACULTY
This course is led by Lilia Shirman, Managing Partner of Falcon Peak Capital and Venture Partner at West Coast Equity Partners. Lilia has operated across the full venture landscape, from angel investor to unicorn fund manager. She brings in incredible guest experts from venture, private equity, banking and academia throughout the course.
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What's next
We’ll be adding more courses throughout the year, starting with two on Entrepreneurship to align to the Create segment on the Portfolio of Impact™, and then courses related to the Inspire segment following. Our full set of twelve courses will complete the rounded requisite learning for all five segments of the wheel, plus architecting it and activating it overall.