Overview
Governance Guernsey 2026: Governance beyond the tick-box
TICKETS ON SALE! - Join us on 15 October at the must-attend event for governance professionals on the island.
Corporate governance is evolving fast, and the old tick-box mindset is no longer adequate. The 2026 Governance Guernsey Conference will explore what meaningful, accountable, high impact governance really looks like in practice. “Governance beyond the tick-box” will bring together leaders who are redefining standards, reshaping culture, and strengthening oversight for a new era.
Keep your eyes peeled for this year's agenda which is coming soon.
Book your ticket today! A discounted rate is available for CGI Students and Members.
Join the conversation that’s driving governance forward on the island.
For any related enquiries please contact us at [email protected], or call us at +44 (0)20 7580 4741
TICKET PRICES
Early bird until 31 July 2026
Full price from 1 August 2026
PAYMENT TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- Full payment must be made upon booking
- A request to pay by invoice is not available.
- All cancellation or transfer requests must be submitted via email to: [email protected]
- Full booking terms and conditions can be found on our website
AGENDA
Evolving programme is subject to slight change
08:30 Registration and welcome refreshments
09:30 Welcome and Introduction
Joe Ogier, Guernsey branch, The Chartered Governance Institute
09:35 Opening Keynote: Governance in the States of Guernsey
Boley Smillie, Chief Executive, States of Guernsey
10:05 Governance pitfalls & their potential impact on Guernsey PLC
Katherine Jane, Deputy Director General (Risk and Operations), Guernsey Financial Services Commission
10:35 Minutes are more than just a tick box
Tess Price, Founder & Managing Director, Virteffic Limited
11:20 Refreshment break
11:50 Panel Session: The Governance challenges arising from the rise in Defence Funds in Guernsey
Speakers:
Matt Brehaut, Partner, Carey Olsen
Matt Wood, Director, Arolla Partners
Alison Gavey, Co-Director Authorisations and Innovation Division, Guernsey Financial Services Commission
12:30 Lunch break
Lunch and refreshments for all
13:30 Student Awards
13:45 Regulatory Update with a UK & Guernsey perspective on the governance code
Speakers:
- Peter Swabey FCG, Policy & Research Director, The Chartered Governance Institute UK
- Mel Torode, Director & Founder, Advisory Services
14:15 Governance in a challenging industry – Corporate Humility and Shareholder engagement
Estelle Levin Nally, Founder, Levin Sources
15:00 Tea and coffee break
15:20 Panel Session: If not the tick-box, then what? Rethinking governance in practice
Speakers:
- Estelle Levin-Nally, Founder, Levin Sources
- Mel Torode, Director & Founder, Advisory Services
- Andreas Tautscher, Director, Arolla Partners
16:00 Conference close
Speakers
Chief Executive, States of Guernsey
Boley Smillie
Born and educated in Guernsey, Boley Smillie began his career at Guernsey Post Limited in 1991, steadily progressing through the organisation before being appointed Chief Executive in 2010. In that role, he led significant change, including business restructuring, pension reform, the introduction of sorting automation and the acquisition of HR Air Ltd, while expanding e-commerce partnerships and modernising its approach to people management.
In January 2025, Boley joined the States of Guernsey as Chief Executive & Head of the Public Service. As the lead civil servant, he has overall responsibility for delivery, performance and quality across the public service. Since taking up the role, he has focused on improving prioritisation, accountability and organisational performance, while promoting greater transparency and public confidence in government services.
CEO & Founder, Levin Sources
Estelle Levin-Nally (M.A., M.A., CDir Dip)
Estelle Levin-Nally (M.A., M.A., CDir Dip) has worked in minerals sustainability since 2000, following early roles in shipbroking, gorilla conservation and international development. She is CEO and Founder of Levin Sources, a B Corp™ advisory firm supporting responsible mineral value chains. Since 2010, Levin Sources has advised 160+ clients across 320+ projects, covering 160+ minerals in 90+ countries.
Estelle helps mining and minerals actors build post-extractivist, regenerative and equitable systems that create resilience and value for businesses, communities and fragile environments. Her expertise spans sustainable minerals policy and investment, market linkages, resilient trade, environmental and human rights due diligence, standards design and implementation, responsible business conduct, stakeholder engagement and artisanal and small-scale mining.
She has advised multilateral, public, private and third sector clients across mining, metallurgy, recycling, jewellery, electronics, automotive, renewables, finance, conservation and human rights. She recently concluded voluntary roles as a member of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council and Commissioner for the Global Investor Commission for Mining 2030. She is currently a member of Women in Mining UK’s Policy & Research Committee.
Estelle has been recognised as a 100 Global Inspirational Woman in Mining and one of African Mining Review’s “Mining Elite in Africa".
Deputy Director General (Risk and Operations), Guernsey Financial Services Commission
Katherine Jane
Katherine is the co-Deputy Director General leading the Risk and Operations Division, which delivers the finance, IT, risk, legal and financial stability functions for the Commission. She also oversees the authorisations function at the Commission. As part of these roles Katherine is focused on ensuring that Commission has a robust and comprehensive data architecture that allows it to adapt and implements new technologies.
Externally, Katherine is the Chair of the Group of International Insurance Centre Supervisors (‘GIICS’), representing the greater part of the offshore insurance supervisors within the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (‘IAIS’).
Katherine joined the Commission in June 2016 from Deloitte in London where she provided prudential and risk support to a wide range of Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) regulated firms; this included working with firms following regulatory issues. Prior to this she had held variety of roles at the UK’s FCA (prior to this the Financial Services Authority) and providing internal audit services for UK building societies. Katherine is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and Cert IoD.
Partner, Carey Olsen
Matt Brehaut
Matt is a partner in the corporate team at Carey Olsen’s London office, advising on corporate and investment funds matters, with particular expertise in the structuring and launch of investment funds. He advises funds, service providers and promoters on all aspects of their establishment, regulation and operation.
Matt trained at Clifford Chance in London and New York, qualifying into the Private Funds Group in 2004, where he specialised in institutional closed-ended funds, particularly private equity and hedge funds.
He later worked at ABN AMRO, both in its legal team and in a front office role, structuring fund-linked and structured products, including UCITS and Exchange Traded Funds following the bank’s takeover by RBS.
Director & Founder, Advisory Services Group
Melanie Torode
Mel is one of the founders and directors of the Advisory Services Group (the “Group”) which provides compliance, risk and regulatory, company secretarial and corporate governance and training services to the financial services industry in the Channel Islands.
Mel has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry in Guernsey, working in the Investment and Fiduciary sector, the majority of which was in fund administration.
In addition to being a Director and Founder of the Group, Mel is an Independent Non-Executive Director with a portfolio of companies, having been a director of Guernsey and European companies for more than 15 years. Mel also holds the nominated roles for a company within the Insurance Sector.
Prior to founding Morgan Sharpe in 2008 (a fund administration company sold to Estera in 2017), Mel was the Company Secretary of Assura Administration, overseeing the administration of listed property funds. During the period from 2017 to 2021, Mel held the roles of Operations Director, Managing Director and subsequently Non-Executive Director for Ocorian Guernsey (formerly Estera). Alongside administration, company secretarial and leadership positions, Mel has held roles as Compliance Officer and MLRO, as well as focusing consistently on corporate governance and risk during her career.
Director, Arolla Partners
Andreas Tautscher
Andreas is an experienced Financial Services former senior executive who acts as an Independent Director on Listed, Private Funds and other regulated businesses. He is currently Chairman of RECI, a listed credit fund, and director of an AIM Listed Board and an American Bank. He also works with a number of other investment groups in the Hedge fund and Venture Capital space. He is a Partner at Arolla Partners.
From 1994 until 2018 Andreas was a senior executive at Deutsche Bank and was most recently CEO Channel Islands and Head of Financial Intermediaries for EMEA and LATAM. He also sat on the UK Regional Governance Board of Deutsche and the EMEA Wealth Management Exco.
He has also served on Local Government advisory committees and was for 6 years a non-executive director on the Virgin Group Board. Andreas first career was in the Oil Industry before moving to PricewaterhouseCoopers where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1994.