Award Categories

Winners

The ICSA Annual Awards 2017

Highlights from 2016

Meet last year's winners and relive the excitement from our glittering 2016 Awards Ceremony. Scroll down for galleries and a full report from last year's event or jump using the links below:

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2016 Award Winners

ICSA Awards

Strategic Report of the year

Winner: Marks and Spencer Group

Sponsor: Addleshaw Goddard

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In this category, the judges were looking for a clear explanation and analysis of the strategic issues facing the company, including its business model, key drivers, objectives and risks.

    The nominees for this award are:

  • ARM Holdings
  • Hammerson
  • Marks and Spencer Group
  • Pets at Home Group

    • Congratulations to the winner of the Strategic Report of the year Marks and Spencer Group.

ICSA Awards

Remuneration Report of the year

Winner: Berendsen plc

Sponsor: newbridgestreet - Aon Hewitt company

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In this category, the best reports showed how remuneration was considered alongside the long-term interests of shareowners and how effective remuneration policy can affect positive change in organisational culture.

The nominees for this award are:

  • Berendsen
  • Kingfisher
  • Pearson
  • SThree

Congratulations to the winner of Remuneration Report of the Year Berendsen plc

ICSA Awards - Sustainability Disclosure of the year

Sustainability Disclosure of the year

Winner: Unilever

Sponsor: Equiniti

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The judges in this category were looking for evidence that long-term stakeholder interests and non-financial factors were linked to the company's strategy, its objectives, it governance structures and ultimately its sustainability.

The nominees for this award are:

  • Carillion
  • Croda International
  • Kingfisher
  • Marks and Spencer Group
  • Unilever

    • Congratulations to the winner of Sustainability Disclosure of the Year Unilever

ICSA Awards

Board Disclosure of the Year

Winner: Man Group plc

Sponsor: Genius Methods

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In this category, the judges wanted a descriptive and reasoned explanation about how the board lead the company. This will include the work of the board’s committees and stakeholders’ interests with clear links to the company’s strategic purpose.

The nominees for this award are:

  • Debenhams
  • Man Group
  • Old Mutual
  • Petra Diamonds

    • Congratulations to the winner of Board Disclosure of the Year Man Group

ICSA Awards

Audit Disclosure of the Year

Winner: Vodafone Group plc

Sponsor: Association of Women Chartered Secretaries

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The judges were looking for insight into issues such as the work of the audit committee, explanations of how non-audit services and fees are managed and evidence of the external auditor's independence.

The nominees are:

  • Associated British Foods
  • Marks and Spencer
  • Smith & Nephew
  • Vodafone Group

Congratulations to the winner of Audit Disclosure of the Year, Vodafone Group

ICSA Awards

Risk Disclosure of the Year

Winner: Serco Group

Sponsor: Grant Thornton

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The judges were looking for a detailed description of the process of risk governance, how that process is tested and how control measures are linked to company strategy. The best reports in this category describe in a meaningful way the real risks that the company face and how the board committees play their part.

The nominees for this award are:

  • The AA
  • Berendsen
  • Hiscox
  • Serco Group

Congratulations to the winner of Risk Disclosure of the Year, Serco Group

ICSA Awards

Annual Report of the Year - Small Cap and AIM category

Winner: Premier Foods

Sponsor: Jordans Corporate Law Ltd

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The best annual reports are easy to read, giving a 'warts and all' review of the year with real insight into the company as well as its strategy, how its board behaves and how it manages risk. All of tonight's winners in this category were transparent with distinct absence of boilerplate and vividly told their company's story in their own way.

The nominees are:

  • EMIS Group
  • KCOM Group
  • Premier Foods
  • U and I Group
  • The Vitec Group

Congratulations to Premier Foods for their winning Annual Report of the Year in Small Cap and AIM category

ICSA Awards -Annual report of the Year in the FTSE 250

Annual report of the Year in the FTSE 250

Winner: Berendsen plc

Sponsor: Prism Co Sec

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The best annual reports are easy to read, giving a ‘warts and all’ review of the year with real insight into the company as well as its strategy, how its board behaves and how it manages risk. The winners in this category were transparent with distinct absence of boilerplate and vividly told their company’s story in their own way.

The nominees are:

  • Berendsen
  • Great Portland Estates
  • Hiscox
  • Mitie Group

Congratulations to Berendsen for winning the Annual Report of the Year in the FTSE 250 category

ICSA Awards

Annual Report of the Year in a FTSE 100 company

Winner: ARM Holdings

Sponsor: Diligent

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The best annual reports are easy to read, giving a ‘warts and all’ review of the year with real insight into the company as well as its strategy, how its board behaves and how it manages risk. The winners in this category were transparent with distinct absence of boilerplate and vividly told their company’s story in their own way.

The nominees are:

  • ARM Holdings
  • Marks and Spencer Group
  • Old Mutual
  • Tesco

Congratulations to ARM Holdings for winning the Annual Report of the Year in the FTSE 100 category

ICSA Awards

Best Investor Engagement

Winner: Legal & General Investment Management

Sponsor: Boardpad & Blueprint OneWorld

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The judging criteria here was very simple. We contacted the company secretaries of all FTSE 350 companies and asked them to nominate the investor or investment manager who has been responsible for the most constructive engagement. Each company secretary had one vote and winner chosen on the basis of the highest number of votes.

The nominees are:

  • Aviva Investors
  • BlackRock
  • Cedar Rock Capital
  • Legal & General Investment Management
  • Norges Bank Investment Management

Congratulations to Legal & General Investment Managements for winning the award for Best Investor Engagement.

ICSA Awards

Service Provider of the Year

Winner: Bridgehouse Company Secretaries

Sponsor: Board Intelligence

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This new category was designed to recognise the work of individuals and companies who provide secretarial or governance services to other organisations - particularly those that have gone significantly beyond a basic service to provide a more valuable contribution.

The nominees are:

  • Intertrust (UK) Limited
  • James Menzies, Ernst & Young
  • Bridgehouse Company Secretaries
  • Jordans Corporate Law
  • Natasha Twena, PwC

Congratulations to Bridgehouse Company Secretaries for winning Service Provider of the Year,

ICSA Awards - Governance Project of the Year

Governance Project of the Year

Winner: Tideway for the Tideway Governance Project

Sponsor: Morrow Sodali

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This was open to those individuals or companies who have completed a significant governance project in the 12 months up until 31 August 2016. This should be a project that could be described as transformational and significant in some way.

The nominees are:

  • Aviva for their Shareholder Strategy 2016
  • Co-op for their 2016 AGM
  • Financial Reporting Council, The Culture Coalition
  • Tideway for the Tideway Governance Project
  • Heathrow Airport, The Heathrow Way
  • Local Pensions Partnership for the Lancashire and London Partnership

Congratulations to Tideway for the Tideway Governance Project for winning Governance Project of the Year.

ICSA Awards - The one to watch

The One to Watch

Winner: Shaylea Rowlett of Roche

Sponsor: DMJ Recruitment

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This category identifies the stars of the future. All the nominees here are still in the early stages of their company secretarial or governance career but have the potential to go all the way to the top.

The nominees are:

  • Louise Crane, Scottish Widows/Lloyds Banking Group
  • Michelle Lau, ARM Holdings plc
  • Rebecca Pitt, Local Pensions Partnership
  • Shaylea Rowlett, Roche
  • Rebecca Waite, DS SMITH PLC
  • Hannah Woodall-Pagan, Severn Trent Plc

Congratulations to Shaylea Rowlett of Roche! for winning The one to watch.

ICSA Awards - Company Secretarial Team of the Year

Company Secretarial Team of the Year

Winner: National Grid

Sponsor: Brainloop

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The winners in this category contributed significantly to their organisation's success. The range and diversity of the duties and transactions which they undertook meant that they have implemented innovative solutions to cope with both routine tasks and the challenges of more exceptional projects.

The nominees are the teams from:

  • Aldermore Group PLC
  • CYBG PLC
  • Financial Times
  • National Grid
  • Premier Oil
  • UBM

Congratulations to National Grid for winning Team of the Year

ICSA Awards - Governance Professional of the Year

Governance Professional of the Year

Winner: Chris Logan, Reckitt Benckiser Group plc

Sponsor: Boardvantage

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This is a new category for 2016. Our nominees are individuals who are at the centre of the governance team and have built and sustained strong relationships with stakeholders, and demonstrated some innovative and effective approaches to good governance.

The nominees are:

  • Paul Evitt, Martin Currie Investment Management
  • Chris Logan, Reckitt Benckiser Group
  • Rinku Sharma, GE Capital & SBI Card
  • Anne Steele, DS SMITH
  • Charlotte Thackrah, PwC

Congratulations to the Governance Professional of the Year, Chris Logan of Reckitt Benckiser Group

ICSA Awards - Company Secretary of the Year Award

Company Secretary of the Year Award

Winner: Lorna McMillan, CYBG

Sponsor: Boardpad & Blueprint OneWorld

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Please welcome Mike Evans from ICSA Software to present the award.

For this award, the judges were looking for a company secretary who provided effective team and thought leadership, who shows mastery of the complex legal and regulatory environment and plays an added-value role in the governance of his or her organisation.

The nominees are:

  • Lawrence Dickinson, Barclays
  • Kate Elsdon, PwC
  • Vicki Haynes, Saga
  • Nihal Mashaki, Turkey Finance Bank
  • Lorna McMillan, CYBG

Congratulations to the Company Secretary of the Year, Lorna McMillan of CYBG

ICSA Awards - Outstanding Achievement Award

Outstanding Achievement Award

Winners: Richard Carter and Julia Unwin

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This is a very special award, one which is presented by ICSA in recognition of continued exemplary work in the secretarial and governance fields.

congratulations to this year's winners of the Outstanding Achievement Award, Richard Carter and Julia Unwin

People at the ICSA Awards

" It’s a very high-profile event. It gets chartered secretaries and non-chartered secretaries together and it spreads the word. "

Alan Theakston, Former President, ICSA