Profiles, say on pay and what matters most

Profiles for Women on Boards

What profiles might be best when populating a board game?

1. The characters should be realistic.
2. Therefore, each character in the game is "flawed' . To overcome the hazards in career progression, she will need to solicit the assistance of other participants. 
3. The characters will interact, either as competitors or as cooperators.
4. Each character will have one unique element in her make up. 
5. Some characters may know each other either as school mates, neighbours.
6. Choices a player makes during the game may have an impact on other players.
7. While the player may make a choice about how to proceed during the game, the choice may also be imposed at random during the game.

There are 4-6 players in a game which lasts up to 2 hours. The winner becomes the Chairman of the Board of a corporation. Players move through life events and career paths. Participants choose from a deck of cards who their character will be. There will be 18 cards to choose from.

1. Sarah is the daughter of upper middle class parents in Calgary. She has 2 sisters. All 3 went to a private girls school. All 3 graduated with an undergraduate degree from a top tier Canadian university. Sarah is the smartest of the 3 and went on to law school. Her area of expertise is in corporate social responsibility and environmental law. However, Sarah has never shown any interest in community affairs and has devoted herself exclusively to the law. She speaks only English. She is 32
2. Jill is the only child of wealthy parents from Halifax. She went to a local university, took an Arts degree majoring in economic history. She has been active in university politics serving 3 years in an elected position as VP of Student Affairs. She has also been active with the local NDP and volunteered at the local food bank and soup kitchen. She is 26
3. Claire is the daughter of a single mother with a limited education who has struggled to provide for Claire and her 2 younger bothers in the east end of Montreal. Life was challenging as the only Anglophone family in a large French Canadian working class neighbourhood. None the less, the blended in well, learning French fluently, going to a francophone school. She took mechanical engineering at the University of Montreal. Jill held down 2 part time jobs to pay her way and developed, along the way admirers and sponsors as she sought out her first jobs. She is 24.
4. Giselle is the daughter of  well connected parents, active in central Canadian politics, both lawyers working for big pharma in Ottawa. She speaks 3 languages including French, English and German. none the less, she went to public schools, worked summers in a variety of positions including: a paper mill, a retail outlet, as a political intern for a local MP, and on a farm. She secured all these positions despite her parent's best efforts to undermine her desire to explore the diversity of Canada's workforce. She graduated from an Ottawa university with a degree in media and computer science at the age of 22
5. Blaire had a quiet upbringing in western Canada on a ranch, with her sister and 3 brothers. She is very athletic, enjoys horseback riding and the great out doors. She learned how to fix farm equipment, re-build cars and ride horses, competitively. She went to a western Canadian university and graduated with degrees in business admin and agricultural science. She found time to excel in the local 4H club and the junior board of trade. At 25, she is anxious to get back to the ranch but to also represent her local community in provincial politics. 
6. Hillary comes from Vancouver, the only daughter of a doting father. Her mother died of cancer when she was 15. Her academic career was in remarkable except when her mother died. She struggled at school for several years and at 20 entered university in a science program. She has since excelled as a scientist , earning her PhD in genetics at the age of 32.
7. Carole, a Metis from Winnipeg, did well in school, volunteered with the local Boys and Girls Club and was appointed as a youth board member to that organization when she was 18. At the same time, she enrolled in a BBA course at the local university, with a goal to enter manufacturing and take over the family junior mining business with her brother, a geologist. At 22, she now Chairs the Club's Nominating Committee. Carole speaks French, English, Cree, Ojibway. 
8. Crystal is a widow with 3 children, working as a supervisor in an insurance brokerage in Brantford. Her husband, a police officer , was killed in the line of duty. She is currently working to complete a diploma in business admin (focus insurance) in the evenings at the local community college. This will supplement her other diploma in media from another community college. Despite her busy schedule, she is interested in local politics and has helped her friend, Bea, to run for office as a city councillor. 
9. Bea is a friend of Crystal. She is unmarried, a relatively successful real estate agent and broker and a Brantford city councillor. Bea is active in provincial politics , as well and has ambitions to run for MPP.  Bea has been active in the community in the local Lions Club, as  Rotarian and on the Board of the YMCA, serving as its Chairman during its building project. 
10. Monique is the mother of 2 boys, a supervisor in the purchasing department of a large building company and whose husband works for the same company but in a different division in Thunder Bay. She has a community college diploma in materials management, volunteers locally with the Franco Ontarian Centre, and with the local Liberal Party of Canada. Now that the boys have grown, she is interested in running in the next provincial election. 

8 more characters will be presented tomorrow for comment. The nature of the characters will, it seems , dictate what the game will look like. For example, an "early career phase" for the game will mean different things for different players..although I suspect the hazards each player faces will be universal across life stages and preparedness. 

What matters most....for open data

There is a good show on our local Rogers cable station (10, if you want to know). It is entitled "What Matters Most". (go to @SaintJohnCase to follow the host of the show) I have been watching this show for about the last 4 years. It is produced on a shoe string, as are most community cable shows. But it is very interesting and ought to be mandatory viewing for those who are trying to design Saint John's open data portal.

The premise of the show is to boost Saint John by focusing on interesting people, events, businesses and advocacy issues. The people interviewed are as varied as the city itself from the Board Chair of the local volunteer bureau, which is valiantly tying to operate on line and with out financing to 2 international sculptors showing their work about the effect of landmines on humans to the owner of the local (very good) junior hockey team. In between there have been interviews with volunteers from the women's shelter, the Chamber of Commerce and buy local agricultural produce advocates. 

Its pretty much what one expect, if that was all that one was looking for. 

Look deeper. 
Look deeper especially if you are interested in open data for the city. The show asks a series of deeper questions about the nature of this city. 

• How do you like the City where you live and , perhaps, work?
• Is it somewhere you really want to be?
• Does it fill you with inspiration... or stress, to get out?
• Does Saint John allow you to be the person you want to be? Does it do the same things for your family and friends?
• Would you recommend Saint John to others?

Open Data development ought to help you, a citizen of this city, answer these questions. While "What Matters Most" provides anecdotal information, the Open data portal ought to provide concrete data that you can cite (or send) to family, friends, co-workers and businesses looking to re-locate to someplace where the water is clean, the air is clean and a SWAT team is not going to shoot you in your bed. 

But the show also provides an anecdotal baseline which you may use to compare Saint John to other communities.

• Have you thought of moving?
• What are the top 3 places and how do these compare to Saint John?
• What do they offer that Saint John might not?
• How would your life be different there?

An Open Data portal ought to help you/us compare and therefore ought to present comparable data to other locales in Canada. 

• What might your career and income prospects be elsewhere and how might this compare to here? 
• If you are single, how might your dating life change, elsewhere? 
• If you are mid life with young children, what comparators are you looking at?
• If you are retired? In other words, how does your life circumstances here measure up to elsewhere? 

These aren't the only questions an Open Data portal might strive to address, but it is a start and it is directed...unlike what we have now, which is so much mud thrown at the wall. 

Profiles in change, citizen rights

Retiree right to information

There are a few questions retirees and the NBPSPP should be asking about the Board's narrative.

General questions

1. How relevant is the information to the current and future needs of the retirees? 
2. has management (in this case Vestcorp) assessed the scope of the information available for decision making?
3. Who owns our data? Is the use of our data subject to internal audit to insure that it is being properly used?
4. Does the data used by management and reported to the board present a coherent picture of the businesses and the markets in which the Plan invests?

Annual meeting questions

1. Is the annual meeting preceded by a retiree relations roadshow? Are the needs of certain groups of retirees being addressed consistent with the current composition of the board?
2. How is attendance at the annual meeting encouraged? 
3. Are retirees given an opportunity to ask questions? In this case, they are. 
4. Are there votes on pay, on nominations, on the choice of Auditor? 
5. Is there proxy voting and will this optimize retiree participation in the annual meeting...and at other events?
6. 6 Is there timely and detailed information? Yes and no. Yes, the information is timely. NBPSPP makes an effort to send out both by snail mail and e-mail information about the plan's status with additional information which may be of interest to retirees. The Plan is currently designing a website which, I presume, will facilitate outreach. However, it remains to be seen if it facilitates in-reach and dialogue between the Board and the retirees. 
7. Do the retirees also receive reports from the Nominating, Compensation and Audit Committees. In the latter, only at the annual meeting. There are some real communication opportunities missed by a) not having these committees and not encouraging a conversation about: performance evaluation and recruitment activity, continuous earning activities (some of which might be of interest to retirees and to those of us who might be interested in applying to the Board), say on pay.

Investment strategies

Being an institutional investor comes with it a degree of power and considerable responsibility. How ethical are the companies in whom we invest?

1. Do these have an HSE focus with attention to : employee welfare, accident rates, volumes of waste, pollution emissions, spills? What are the actions of the companies to reduce incidents, if these are an issue?
2. Is there CSR reporting on : social matters, ethical labour practices, training and education not only of workers but also of the markets in which they operate,  workforce diversity and/or philanthropic initiatives(one question: is there pay equity? What proportion of leadership positions are held by women?)
3. How sustainable are the companies in which we invest?

In short, do the companies have a triple bottom line of financial performance, impacts on the environment and natural resources, social benefits and costs. 

In effect, as an Institutional Investor, NBPSPP has an opportunity to encourage business to profit by focussing on community, environment, marketplace and workplace.

Sustainability reporting

How sustainable are the companies in which we invest as a plan? 

Sustainability at be defined as the ability of the company to achieve sustainable development and continue to operate without wasting or losing natural resources, (skilled) people or (developing)markets. 

Several topics have been identified for follow up: say on pay, ethical investing, director performance evaluation. 

NBPSPP, retiree rights and the Board

What rights do retirees have?

Really...what rights do we have??
One goes to the annual meeting of the plan. Not many people attend and few ask questions. An educational session which the Board might consider is one about the rights of pensioner in guiding their own Plan. 

Our rights

So, what are our rights?

1. We have the right to receive the Annual Report...and we do receive that. Together with that, we have the right to attend the annual meeting either in person or when it is streamed. So, in real time.
2. We have the right to take legal action if we think that the directors have acted illegally. Fortunately, in looking at the bio's of the current board, I rather doubt tat this right will need to acted upon any time soon. It would appear any issues are more the sin of omission rather than commission.
3. We ought to have the right to elect and re-elect directors. The problems of having an opaque nominations and selection process (opaque to the pensioners) is compounded by the fact that the directors are named rather than elected. 
4. We ought to be allowed to elect the Auditors. And , the Audit firm should be subjected to a time limit. I have written about the weakness of the current audit process and have noted that the process is replete with conflict of interest. This does need to be cleaned up.
5. We ought to have a say on pay based on performance. I have written about this. Assuring us that Vestcorp's pay is somewhat below the mean for similar plans elsewhere is Canada is not a way to compensate. It only means we get  a management group who comes cheaper than others. Therefore, say on pay should be based on demonstrable performance metrics.
6. A say in strategic planning...and at the very least we ought to know what that plan is. 
7. Rather than entertaining a report from the Board and its committees, there ought to be an opportunity for dialogue. And , ordinarily, this would be facilitated by the Board Chair. 

Improved communication is never bad

What might be the basis of this dialogue? 

Answer: the Plan's goals, its strategy, and its governance performance. 

Why bother?

Answer:

• to enhance transparency in decision making;
• improve the long term value of the Plan;
• to reduce the risk that poor strategic decisions will lead to "catastrophic outcomes"
• aid improved governance practices

Are these radical?

Not at all. In fact, these are tepid recommendations. Try reading Senator Chuck Schumer's [proposed shareholder rights. He recommends aggressive regulator oversight, mandatory say on pay (no advisories), directors to receive more than 50% vote in uncontested elections; annual re-elections; mandatory risk management committees.

Further, stakeholder democracy has been a cornerstone of all governance reports since Cadbury.

The |Board announced in one of its missives to us that it was going to unveil a website in 2018 to enhance communication. Here are a few items for them to consider:

1. will there be a coincident policy regarding social networking?
2. will on line postings be secure?
3. who will police on line activity. A few risk issues to consider include: reputational damage; disclosure breaches, data leaks (retirees personal information) potential for brand damage.

Avoiding Disruption

So, what might the Board expect if they were to implement any or even all of these recommendations?

• reduces the risk of (embarrassing) activism either at the annual meeting or on the website
• participation in activities making the plan better is up
• reduces the reliance on consultants and advisory financial reports to assuage the fears of jittery (or pain in the ass) retirees
• retirees are assured that the Board's priority is on transparency and disclosure.

Next are questions you, as the retiree, should ask of the board about the operations. 

Industries for women to avoid

What to avoid...perhaps!

There are a few industries women may want to avoid, if they are looking to become corporate directors. Its something of a chicken or an egg. Are women not chosen to be on the boards of corporations in these sectors because there are no qualified women to choose from? Or, do women not go into these sectors because there are no women who might be mentors or sponsors who will help them advance? Or, do women not get the opportunity because, proportionately, there are too few women in the pipeline?
What are these sectors, typically?

• Construction. Women comprise less that 10% of the workforce.
• Fishing, hunting, trapping. About the same as construction.
• Forestry and logging. ditto
• Mining, oil, gas. Women comprise about 20% of the workforce.
• Transportation. Women comprise about 22% of the workforce.
• Utilities. ditto
• Manufacturing. ditto
• Wholesale trade.Women comprise about 30% of the workforce.
• Agriculture. ditto. 

When designing a board game,  players may be asked to draw a profile card at the beginning of the game. Such a card may define one of the limitations that she will face as a consequence of a particular career choice. 

On the other hand, as noted in a previous post, she may draw a card where the pipeline to the board is rich (er) with opportunity. So, a career in health care, education, finance/insurance, accommodation/food service, retail trade, public service (administration) where the pipeline is richer, the chances of finding a sponsor or mentor greater, and a chance to compete on a level playing field (or even one tilted in her favour) will make the rise to the top easier. 

The final complicating factor for the game is choosing a company that is listed on either the S&P 500 (where women are more likely to get a seat on the board) or the S&P/TSX where women are less likely to get a seat on the board. This will be a factor on the profile card that the player will choose during the game. 

Building the Game

Games are easier to start than to finish. With this caveat, I am beginning the (long) process of building  board game.

Background

Over the last 2 months, I have presented: 

• Issues and challenge women face when they strive to secure a position as corporate director;
• Those criteria for success/victory have been outlined;
• The key characteristics of companies and sectors which aid  a woman's successful appointment as a director or, conversely, will contribute to her likelihood of failure in her quest for a directorship;
• Components of (N. Am.) society which have been set forth and which contribute to, or which may limit a woman's successful achievement as a board member;
• Networks which will help women succeed;
• Career steps which women might take to realize their corporate successes;
• Academic strategies which women might employ to better improve the chances of success. 

Game objectives

This game should be designed to be educational. So, it would be about:

• those gender biased impediments confronting women in their quest for a corporate directorship;
• how to cooperate with like minded women to succeed;
• what strategies a woman might employ to succeed even despite considerable gender biased challenges; the potential consequences of certain life, academic and career paths, chosen or imposed. 

The game should promote a conversation about issues and options when the players are not playing the game. 

Advancement in the game is achieved by:

• mastering each of 4 levels including academic, early career, mid career and C-suite levels;
• creating strategies and relationships to advance through each level;
• outsmarting other players as needed;
• cooperating with other players o advance your own objectives or their, when feasible;
• overcoming certain gender biased issues. 

"Group" is an important feature of this game, as is "healthy" relationship building. So, 4, but preferably 6 players are best for this game. 

Each player will draw a "profile" card to begin the game. This card will describe academic credentials, economic status, and ...?. The goal of the profile card will be to establish early, that the competition is played on an uneven playing field. So, some players will appear to be "handicapped" at the beginning...although the "handicaps" can be turned to advantage during the game.

Narrative Reporting and NBPSPP 

The Board of the NBPSPP currently sends out quarterly newsletters to retirees, holds an annual meeting open to retirees and conduct it on line, so that those who cannot attend in person, can participate. For each of its last 3 annual meetings, there has been an element of education for the retirees about some element of pension rights or governance. Questions may be, and are , posed by the audience. 

However, it is important to consider what the backdrop to these open meetings are, or ought to be. In effect, the retirees ought to hear from the board about the conduct of business from the perspective of the code of conduct and ethical practice. 

• a comment about the conflict of interest policy, published in the annual report and in one of the newsletters, needs to be made. Were there any conflict of interest issues? Wee these addressed? How? Did the Auditor identify any?;
• an assurance of that the assets of the Plan were properly used, following the Plan's principles of social responsibility and ethical investing;
• an assurance that our confidential information was protected and that there are IT guidelines and practices which continue to be evaluated;
• fair dealing is a practice;
• there is compliance with not only regulations governing pension plan management but also governance . Further, an assurance ought to be provided that there is a continuous effort to use governance best practices;
• there is whistleblowing protection.

In the narrative and ongoing communication with retirees, typically there is an expectation that emerging trends are reviewed, together with a conversation about how the Plan is responding to these. A few of these trends include:

• increased government scrutiny of (pension) board functioning;
• greater stakeholder activism;
• more innovation in reaching out to stakeholders
• more communication between independent directors and stakeholders;
• an expectation that retirees will monitor board as well as plan and management performance;
• compensation will be based on performance

What are our expectations???

Indeed...what are they as far as fair dealing and openness are concerned?
We have a right to expect:

• accountability from the Board of Directors;
• openness in communication from the Board;
• enhancement of the plan's value and its benefits;
• protection of the plan's assets;
• having assay in the governance of the plan;
• mitigating risk;
• being treated fairly

What further expectations do we have?

As retirees we have certain expectations of our Board which they would need to report, either through the annual report, the annual meeting, a quarterly newsletter, periodic meetings between independent board members and retirees, a web site. These accountabilities include:

Board oversight of management in :

• strategy development-what is it?
• risk definition and management
• Performance appraisal of management and the board
• compensation based on performance

Board reporting through such independent committees as Audit, Compensation, Nominating. Further, in addition to financial reporting, there should also be reporting regarding social responsibility and ethical investing. 

So, what are our legal rights and how do we get the Board to respect these??

Pension risk, game design

NBPSPP and risk management

In my last pot, I covered risk management and the NBPSPP. It was covered from a general governance perspective. CCGG, CAPSA and CICA all have similar observations.

CCGG (Canadian Coalition of Good Governance) makes a number of recommendations. 

1. The (Pension ) Board should oversee the Enterprise Risk Management process.
2. This ought to be done through a Risk Management steering committee. Note that there is some debate about whether or not there should be such a committee. The alternative is to embed the risk management function into the function of each board committee. The challenge for the NBPSPP is that it has only 2 committees. 
3. There should be (published) risk indicators.
4. The Audit Committee should ensure that risk is clearly defined and that the risk parameters are understood an respected by management.
5. That is, the Audit Committee assures that the risk oversight is delegated appropriately to appropriate committee of the board.
6. The board reviews , annually, performance.
7. The Board needs to review, quarterly, key business risks including: cybersecurity, data loss, changes in the legislative or regulatory environment, the impact of service disruption. 

In another post, the way a Plan needs to engage with and reach out to key stakeholders on these and other matters will be reviewed.

More detailed guidelines are provided by both CAPSA and CICA.

CAPSA  www.capsa-acor.org has taken a look at how some principle risks might be addressed through Principle 7. These parameters include:

• investment time horizons
• liquidity needs
• funding risk
• return volatility
• demographic risk
• longevity risk
• legislative/regulatory requirements risk

To get the more details about the CAPSA approach to Pension Plan Governance and risk management go to Guideline 4

www.capsa-acor.org/Documents/view/52

Pay especial attention to the self assessment questionnaire. A question to our Pension Board " How does our plan measure up?"

Guideline 6 covers the Prudent Person requirement for Board risk management.
www.capsa-acor.org/Documents/view/59

CICA (20 Questions a Pension Board should ask) provides an excellent overview of the responsibility of the Pension Board in risk management. Most importantly, at issue is the oversight of risks of certain investments. It is important that these risks be professionally evaluated. The role of the Board is to manage risks, not returns. 

As a part of the directors' ongoing risk assessment and management, the board should require an annual report from management on pension administration and compliance. Topics to be covered include:

• membership stats, changes to that demographic and impact on funding;
• liabilities both in terms of  going concern and solvency
• management compliance with SIP&P. i.e. do transactions and investment holdings meet the terms of investment management agreements?;
• changes to the management structure;
• compliance with asset and liability mix policy;
• compliance with pension funding guidelines;
• currency guidelines so that the plan is managing its foreign currency risk exposure;
• have managers voted proxies as instructed;
•  compliance with restrictions and related party transactions;
• conflict of interest reporting;
• fraud prevention and detection compliance.

The next posts will involvement retiree and ,more broadly, stakeholder engagement. 

Strategies to get that directorship

What Strategies should Women Pursue?

This particular post is about strategy. How should the Board Game, Women on Boards structure the strategy component of the game? 
There are 6 areas to consider including:

1. Qualifying
2. Personal advancement
3. Choosing the right company in the right sector
4. Build a skills matrix
5. Research the sector and employer
6. Who can help?

1) What qualifications to corporations seek?

There are a few according to Spencer Stuart and Ernst and Young.

Ranked, these include:

• Executive leadership. Have you functioned in a senior management position?
• Industry expertise. Are you known in a particular sector?
• financial accounting (surprisingly to me, at least) ranks high
• Experience on other boards. Tis might seem like a disingenuous qualification. I mean, you are looking for experience but you need experience to get experience. This is where your volunteer board work comes in handy at the local, regional and national levels. The latter, in particular, can give you substantive notoriety.
• Operational experience. So, perhaps handling significant projects in a particular sector.
• A global perspective. 
• Strategic planning
• Marketing 
• An expertise in Corporate governance (academia, journalism, professional association )
• Public policy/governmental affairs. So, have you worked as a senior civil servant such as a Deputy Minister or ADM?
• Risk assessment
• under 60 years of age. ( sorry. Although NO credible search team will say it, the reality is that almost no one > 60 and without board experience gets even a look)

2) Strategies

• Excel, be recognized, meet the right people. These might all fit under the broader strategy of building your brand. So, the first step is to get a really good education, preferably at a niche university and in a profession. Build notoriety early by volunteering at a local level, writing for the university newspaper and working on the university radio. Be credible and try out ideas. Start early on a local board to find out what it is like and begin to meet people at that level. 
• During this period, develop a game plan. This strategy carries forward with membership in a professional association and continuing education as a director. Even a start with the United Way program, then advance through to the ICSA Acc Dir. program and then an MBA focused on a specialty in good governance. MBA schools focus on certain elements such as CSR (e.g. Laval), ethical governance (e.g. McMaster).  Be canny. Choose a school based on what the current issues in governance currently are. 

3) Choose wisely

Sometimes all of us rush into a job because it is, well, a job. Then we stop and look around to see where we are...and sometimes it ain't pretty

• Does your employer have a commitment to building leaders amongst women. So, have they signed to Catalyst Accord? This is a voluntary pledge by Canadian companies to increase the overall proportion of women on FP 500 boards to 25%. 
• Are there formal board policies making diversity a criterion of board composition?
• Does the board have term limits. A regular refreshment will create opportunities to recruit women.
• Is there evidence that the corporation (and the board) seek out qualified women?
• Are you in a sector where boards require market expertise, industry knowledge or functional capabilities?
• Is there evidence that the sector boards consider directors with non profit academic or public sector expertise? 
• Is there evidence that , for this sector, traditional networks work? If so, make sure that you are a part of the "right" alumnus. 
• Is there evidence that the sector recruits "board ready" women?
• What proportion of women are in leadership positions in the company or sector?

4) Based on your answers to these questions,  you need to build a skills matrix. 

5) Dig around

Do the nominating committees recruit |(or appear to recruit) from a broad talent pool?

Check out the way committees do their work. Do they, for example, look at CV's without looking at names? This will give you an idea of whether committees might unconsciously filter out women when considering candidates. 

6) There are some great Canadian organizations which might help women looking to advance their careers as directors.

• Association of Quebec Women in Finance https://affq.org
• Catalyst www.catalyst.org
• Canadian Diversity Board www.boarddiversity.ca
• Canadian Women in Communications www.wct-fct.com
• Reseau des femmes d'affaires du Quebec www.rfaq.ca
• Women in Capital Markets https://wcm.ca
• Women in Leadership Foundation www.womeninleadership.ca
• Women's Executive Network www.wxnetwork.com
• Association of Women in Finance www.womeninfinance.ca

We are almost ready to start building the game. 

Women, Corporate Boards and risk managment

Women on Boards: hazard cards

As we proceed with organizing this board game, lets consider some of the hazards which a participant  might draw. 
What might be some of the reasons an Corporation might choose NOT to recruit a woman to it Board of Directors. 

• the fear that a woman might have a feminist agenda (what ever that is!)
• a lack of ambition (a perception just because she is a woman)
• lack of relevant education (although not likely, in this day and age because typically more women than men are graduating in Canada with advanced de and some professional degrees) 
• lack of leadership experience (in a particular industry..although this can be mitigated as we have seen in other posts)
• family responsibilities (also irrelevant, but bias knows no logic)
• possibility that her career path as a director will be interrupted  (because he is subservient to her partner's ambitions or because she might become pregnant...also not relevant as we have seen in the research)
• reluctance by the candidate to self promote
• lack of involvement in corporate networks
• lack of involvement in professional networks
• the Nominating Committee flat out refuses for no reason (so forget this corporation. It will close soon anyway)

Also in the career stack of cards would be statements as to why women are needed. 

• strategic input. Women may have much varied experience
• by adding women to the board, the Corporation has an opportunity to influence decision making and leadership styles (as the literature cited in earlier posts has noted)
• women appointed to boards can provide female role models and serve as mentors for women , herby getting more women in the pipeline for promotions
• women are better educated than their male counterparts (on average)
• adding women to the board will improve the corporate image with stakeholder groups including shareholders and particularly institutional shareholders
• adding women to the board will improve board behaviour
• adding women to the board will improve CSR compliance. 

One strategy which women may choose to employ to secure a position on a Corporate board would include:

• going the path of working within financial institutions
• securing a senior position (as a matter of career choice) within the Public Service
• securing a leadership position within a voluntary or a charitable organization (first at a local level, and progressing, finally at a national level)
• serving on a government advisory body (starting with an Agency, Board or Commission and then moving onto a Crown Corporation)
• serve on the Board of a major Arts/cultural organization for profile
• work and volunteer in a province with higher levels of female representation on the legislature
• run for office (and get elected). This is a different career path and one might want to start with the local Board of education, move onto city councillor, then mayor and the legislature..as a career path.

How might one work this strategy into the game??

If you want to copy what others have done, here are some interesting stats about female directors. Again, this might be the luck of the draw or a part of the overall strategy a participant might want to adopt to move into the position of corporate director

• 63% had been public company executives
• 17% had ben private company executives
• 6% had been consultants
• 5% had been academics
• 4% had been non profit employees. 

Tomorrow, I will touch on how to target the "right" sector and the "right" company to help serve your ambitions. 


Enterprise Risk Management: A primer

A few posts ago I touched on the term "enterprise risk management" specifically as it applied to our pension plan NBPSPP. Does the Plan have an ERM process? 

Not that it is saying--although that doesn't mean that it doesn't have one. Remember that CCGG, CICA and CAPSA all urge boards to have such a plan. But, what do we mean by ERM?

The Board of Directors has an overall responsibility for identifying and monitoring risks and ensuring that adequate control mechanisms are in place. NP58-201 3.4(c) states

The Board should adopt a written mandate in which it explicitly acknowledges responsibility for....the identification of the principal risks of the issuer's business, and ensuring the implementation of appropriate systems to manage these risks.

So, what is the role of the Board, exactly?
Setting the tone from the top that systematic and integrated risk management is valuable for understanding uncertainty in decision making and for demonstrating accountability to stakeholders. In this case that is us the retirees. This would be especially important given that the Plan's model focuses on shared risk.

So, what is that shared risk and what do we as retirees get to say about the risk model, how it is implemented and who is ultimately held accountable if the model fails...or is not implemented properly.

So, we, the retirees , under this model, would get a say in determining the best way to implement the Integrated Risk management Framework.

To do that, the Board would need to implement a supportive learning environment, not only for themselves but also for us, the stakeholders. This would include sensible risk taking and learning from experience.

It is important that risks are ranked, and that the appropriate risk management strategies are in place to protect our investment.

Finally, it is important that there is a capacity to report on the performance of the risk management function. But, within a Pension Plan, ours or anyone's, how is this done?

That.... I do not know. I would appreciate comments.