Governance beyond the pandemic

Pre-event round table discussions

Welcome and introduction

Sara Drake, Chief Executive, The Chartered Governance Institute

Keynote 1

Lord Callanan, Minister for Climate Change & Corporate Responsibility

Keynote 2

Sir Jonathan Thompson, CEO, Financial Reporting Council

Panel discussion: The new normal

The ’new normal’ became a common phrase, even before we knew what the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic might be. But what does the ’new normal’ really mean, and how does it affect governance professionals?

Our panellists reflect upon how organisations have handled the crisis and review the changes in law and practice that have emerged as a result – be they temporary, permanent, or still to materialise.

Moderator:
Prof. Alexander Van de Putte, Chairman, Corporate Governance & Stewardship, Astana International Financial Centre

Speakers:
Sara Drake, CEO, The Chartered Governance Institute
Ben Mathews, Company Secretary, bp plc
William Johnson, General Counsel, BMW Group UK
Ben Matthews, Group Company Secretary, Easy Jet

Shaping a new future for audit 
Public trust in financial information is critical, there has been a lot of focus in recent years about the quality and effectiveness of audit in the UK and steps are being taken by government and regulators to reform the audit market.  In this session representatives from the Financial Reporting Council, the audit regulator, explain the latest developments in audit quality and take a deep dive into the newly announced principles for operational separation – a world first set of principles designed to drive up audit quality by changing the governance and culture of the audit firms.

Moderator:
Peter Swabey, Policy & Research Director, The Chartered Governance Institute

Speakers:
Claire Lindridge, Director of Audit Market Supervision
David Rule, Executive Director of Supervision, FRC

Networking break or Themed discussion

Themed discussion

How to maintain security of confidential data with employees working from home 

Led by William Wastell, Regional Sales Director, Diligent

Or

Hosting a successful Hybrid AGM: Answering the FAQ’s 

Led by Pete Fowler, Managing Director - UK, Lumi

Breakout sessions

You will be asked to pre-select your session of choice in advance of the event.

Panel discussion: ESG: A new dawn

Before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, environmental and social governance (ESG) issues were high on board agendas. While lockdown has offered a glimpse of a cleaner, more environmentally focused future, it hasn’t solved the issue of supply chains or ESG ranking. The panel will discuss how ESG plays a part in the success of businesses as they move beyond the pandemic and through what is looking like a prolonged recession.

Moderator: Dan Neale, Social Transformation Lead, the World Benchmarking Alliance

Speakers:
Kate Larsen, Experienced Advisor in ESG, Sustainability, Human Rights
Susan Hooper, Director, Chapter Zero
Andrew Wallis, CEO, Unseen
Leon Kamhi, Executive Director: Head of Responsibility, Federated Hermes - International

Or

Succession planning: Role of the board in nurturing talent

Fresh perspectives are essential to keeping a board dynamic and ensures a company always has the right leaders in place should a change happen quickly. While this can be attained by recruiting from outside an organisation, this often leads to a lengthy search process followed by a period of orientation and settling-in. This panel will look at why more and more organisations are turning to their talent pool by investing in internal development programmes, nurturing talent and creating a viable pipeline to the boardroom.

Moderator:
Mandy Kirby, Chief strategist and co-founder, City Hive

Speakers:

Annette Andrews, Director, Acaria Coaching & Consulting Ltd
Dowshan Humzah, Director & Chair of UK Advisory Board, Board Apprentice Global
Patrick Dunne, Experienced Chair and board member in Business & Social Enterprise

Or

Building trust with investors in challenging times

Claire Bodanis, one of the UK’s leading authorities on corporate reporting and author of Trust me, I’m listed, will discuss with an institutional investor, Nadine Windsor, what the investment community will be looking for in 2021 reports. They will address questions such as: what does good (and bad) COVID-19 disclosure look like? How much detail will companies be expected to give? How can companies use their reporting to develop trust with their investors in challenging times?

Speakers: 
Claire Bodanis, Founder and Director, Falcon Windsor
Nadine Windsor, Managing Director, Global Markets, First Abu Dhabi Bank

Or

Board evaluation in the post-pandemic world: should technology play a larger role?

New emergent risks have heightened the requirement for boards to review their risk management processes. As some organisations look to cut back on certain exercises, others look to strengthen their performance to maintain their reputation to investors and stakeholders. We look at the use of technology in board evaluations to ensure you can continue to exercise due diligence virtually.

In this session we explore the use of virtual board evaluations to improve efficiency and innovation, and discuss what board evaluation trends are discernible and what this may mean for governance professionals.

Speakers:
Stephen Page, Head of EMEA Board Engagement, Nasdaq Governance Solutions
James Harley, Director of Strategy, Nasdaq Governance Solutions
Peter Swabey, Policy & Research Director, The Chartered Governance Institute

Breakout sessions

You will be asked to pre-select your session of choice in advance of the event.

Enhancing performance through psychological safety

Study after study has shown that an unsafe working environment can lead to employees taking inappropriate risks or engaging in poor behaviour. That’s also true of the boardroom, where stakes are high and the pressure intense. The pandemic has added uncertainty and disrupted the work environment. In this session, we discuss how and why organisations need to create an environment in which board members and employees alike can feel safe and able to share ideas and empowered to speak up.

Moderator:
Karl George, Director, The Governance Forum Limited

Speakers:
Alison Gill, CEO, Bvalco
Jeremy Cross, Director, Bailiwick Consulting
Rob Baker, Psychology & HR Consultant, Tailored Thinking

Or

Reputational crisis and how to prevent it

Warren Buffett once said, ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently’. With over half of the world using the internet, anyone can generate content that can harm an organisation. Fake news, review platforms, social media – they have all become real threats that organisations need to guard against. We discuss some of these threats to reputation and ask, what can organisations do?

Moderator:
Dorothy Maseke, Group manager risk and compliance, ICEA Lion Group

Speakers:
Matthew Painter, Managing Director at Ipsos Corporate Reputation, Ipsos MORI
Tom Trewinnard, Founder & COO, Fathm
Kate Hartley, Crisis communication specialist, Polpeo

Or

Finding growth, sustaining business

The pandemic has put many businesses in peril. The insolvency act has permitted otherwise healthy businesses to continue trading. But the stakes and values have shifted, and it is now crucial for organisations to find a path towards a sustainable re-growth. The panellists discuss the challenges they will face in the coming months and what it means to re-grow sustainably.

Moderator:
Theodore Spyrou, Associate Director, Ashridge Associates

Speakers:
Fiona Robertson, Senior Lecturer, Leeds Beckett University
Frederik Otto, Founder and business advisor, The Sustainability Board Report
Perrin Carey, Founder and Director of Perrin Carey Limited

Networking break or Themed discussion

Themed discussion

Entity management challenges during the pandemic

Led by Maya Sharma & Sulaiman Durrani, Diligent

Breakout Sessions

You will be asked to pre-select your session of choice in advance of the event.

Mindful exclusion

The mindfulness of how we exclude has always impacted business performance. However, it matters now more than ever before. An exclusion usually comes from personal bias or perceived to come from social norms, not from a rational argument. This may be the tip of the iceberg. New research from The Chartered Governance Institute and the Centre for Synchronous Leadership examines the issue, and this session will further explore the governance professional’s voice in the boardroom, the healthy flow of power and the value of networks.

Moderator:
Peter Swabey, Policy & Research Director, The Chartered Governance Institute

Speakers:

Justine Lutterodt, Director, Centre for Synchronous Leadership
Diana Brightmore-Armour, Former CEO at ANZ and NED at FTSE 100 companies
Anthony Corriette, Company Secretary, BBC studios

Or

Cyberattacks: a boardroom dilemma

Over the last few months, we have become even more dependent on our technology. However, as more and more organisations are finding, with greater dependence comes an increased risk of cyberattack. This session will explore how boards should consider cyber-risks to find the right balance between security, cost and usability. It will also examine how boards can prepare and exercise for a cyber incident.

Speaker: John Noble, Non-Executive Director, NHS Digital

Or

Workshop: Virtual Governance – How boards are adapting to new realities

At the beginning of the pandemic, many believed operating virtually would be a temporary measure, and in-person gatherings would be able to resume in a matter of weeks or months. As the pandemic nears the one-year mark and reliable vaccines and treatments are still many months’ away, boards and companies realise that the temporary changes represent a ‘new normal’. Join us for a collaborative peer-to-peer discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of virtual governance. Our panel will provide opening remarks on some of the key developments in virtual governance over the past year. Then attendees will join breakout groups to share strategies and stories of ways to make virtual governance effective (and less disruptive).

Speakers:

Dottie Schindlinger, Executive Director, Diligent Institute
Madeleine Scrafton, Head of Governance - Board, HSBC Holdings PLC

Rebuilding trust through governance

The global economic and political landscape has been transformed by the pandemic, and as rebuilding gets underway, good governance will become ever more vital in ensuring a sustainable future and restoring public trust. There are tough challenges ahead, and good dialogue between organisations, their shareholders and stakeholders, government and regulators will be key. In this session, we reflect upon just some of the key issues we’re going to have to deal with in building a better future.

Moderator:
Liam Healy, VP and Managing Director, Diligent Corporation

Speaker:
Andrew Ninian, Director, Stewardship & Corporate Governance, The Investment Association

Closing remarks, conference closes