Many higher education leaders are adopting measures that may contribute to better governance, but unless they also look at how the phenomenon of culture shapes the way their board members behave as a group, they will miss the forest for the trees. The best trustees and presidents grasp the paradox of assembling a number of highly competent individuals only to find that the result is an incompetent group and recognize that the tone at the top--or the values that the chief executive and board chair bring to their responsibilities as "chief board development officers"--has a major effect on the board's culture. They know that building a healthy governance culture is an ongoing process, not an intermittent task. Too often, leaders ignore the important issue of board culture. This article describes current research that offers some insight on this too often neglected dimension of board building.