The Sorrel Group was founded in 2004, by Paula HJ Cholmondeley.  It  is focused on providing education to support corporate directors who excel at overseeing their corporations in today's challenging business environment.

Customized Individual Corporate Governance Education:
New corporate directors are chosen for their  industry expertise or specialized skill.  Effective corporate governance is a skill in and of itself.  Board members must balance their role as a representative of a broad spectrum of shareholders, some with short term and some with long term goals.  Often this involves hard decisions requiring courage. They must collaborate with colleagues and hold management accountable for results, while always bringing their specific experience and knowledge to bear for the good of the corporation.

The Sorrel Group, after consultation with the client, creates a customized education program which incorporates the individual director's unique background as well as the specific industry and stage at which the corporation exists.  Education for a military general might focus on how to read a 10-K, while education for an IT executive might focus on  the role of the compensation committee.  Clients are grounded in all of the best practices highlighted in the Blue Ribbon Commission Reports of National Association of Corporate Directors and the publications and reports of organizations such as Nasdaq, the NYSE and Catalyst.  One-on-one education provides a confidential environment in which directors can feel comfortable asking a variety of questions.  New directors enter the boardroom up to date on all the current governance topics discussed in boardrooms today. They are ready to contribute from day one.

Education through the National Association of Corporate Directors:
Ms. Cholmondeley and Ms. Hurd are a part time faculty member for NACD. NACD is the premier membership association for corporate directors in America.  It is focused on excellence in director education.  They and their colleagues provide governance education in a series of general education programs offered to any director.  Both of them have been recent presenters at the Director Professionalism, Advanced Director Professionalism, and Master Class.  Ms. Cholmondeley has also presented at the Association's annual meeting, which is the largest annual gathering of corporate directors.  In addition, they are frequent faculty members for the NACD "In-Boardroom Programs."  This program provides customized education for both boards and committees, as a group.  Through this same program evaluations for boards, committees and individual directors are also conducted.

Together their teaching experience spans a wide range of  industry boardrooms, including:
- Insurance
- Energy
- Chemical
- Skin care
- Retail
- Regulatory bodies
- Medical partnerships
- Commercial vehicular dealerships
- Scientific research companies
- Specialty steel
- Food  manufacturing