Entry level-women on boards

Entry level: Women on Boards

My Apologies

For those of you who have been following this blog, please accept my apologies for going dark for the last 2 weeks. A combination of problems struck including ice and snow...and problems getting another blog up and going. It was to have focused on pension governance. I failed for some reason to engage the platform properly. So, I will continue using this blog until I get the other one fixed. 

NBPSPP and Pension Governance

Some of you may have been reading about my views about the NBPSPP, its governance and their performance. After several weeks about writing about it, and having done my research, I have now reached out to them for an explanation about certain elements of their governance approach.

Three (3) days ago, I asked 4 questions:

1. How does the board define director/ trustee independence?
2. How does the board evaluate its performance? 
3. How does the board recruit new members?
4. How many independent trustees are? 

I expect that there will be an answer in a couple of days (this being Sunday in this part of the world). 

Saint John, smart cities and open data portals

I had also asked our city councillor about whether Saint John had considered developing itself as a smart city. IN previous blogs, I had reviewed both what a smart city was and how Saint John's open data portal might help inform that effort. My councillor had no idea how to respond to the question about smart cities and rather though that it had to do with a continuous improvement program. (well...it does, in a way...just not his). He let me know that the open data portal was being looked after by the IT department of the city.  Bad idea. Very bad idea. I got back to him with one definition of a smart city and a suggestion that many more people than the IT department needed to be involved in the development of an open data portal. 
I can see another blog developing here, linked to the show
#whatmattersmost . 

Anyway, lets get on with the main show. 

Entry level: women on boards

An entry level position places the player in the first 3-5 years of a career, the sights of which are focused on getting a place onto a corporate board. The goal of this stage of the game is to acquire: authority, skills, and a network. 

• The first step is to get a position on a volunteer board in the first year of a career, if she hasn't done so already.
• begin to attend the relevant regional and provincial conferences 
• in the second year on that board, start taking courses through an operation like Charity Village through its webinar series. 
• begin to attend the national conferences. 
• in the third year, enroll in the ICSA Acc. Dir course (3 days) plus exams in either Toronto or Vancouver. 
• attend ICSA annual conference
• find  mentor within the governance structures of either the volunteer agency association (at a national level) or the corporate secretarial association. 
• through your mentor, meet board search/recruitment consultants. Meet with them to determine what qualifications corporations may be seeking. The search consultants should be nationally recognized. 
• in year 4 begin to publish articles in Trustee magazine and in a professional governance journal like Governance (the ICSA journal) or Corporate Secretary,  (the US journal). Ask to make a presentation about governance at these conferences (ICSA, volunteer agency)
• in year 5, continue with the above strategies and start to look for a more responsible career position, one which will enhance your profile with the boards of the companies in your chosen industry. 
• At year 5, the player will also have wanted to upgrade her professional education. If, for example, she starts the game with an undergrad degree, she should have entered this phase with a post grad degree. In this phase of the game, she should have upgraded her qualifications by completing a certificate in risk management (distance ed'n through the U of T as an example). Taking a certificate through the National Quality Institute will give her extra points. Both will jump her ahead in the game. 

The next phase/stage of the game is mid career, which I will cover tomorrow.