1st Edition
A Director's Guide to Governance in the Boardroom Across the Private, Public, and Voluntary Sectors
This book is a practical guide for executive and non-executive directors and aspiring directors to lead, govern, and steer UK-based organisations to long-term sustainable success.
In today’s turbulent environment, corporate governance is increasingly scrutinised, and this book will consider how directors can ‘bring the future forward’ with respect to responsible and ethical governance and leadership against the challenging political, environmental, and economic backdrop. While other books discuss UK corporate governance, this one uniquely demonstrates how the work of directors can build an organisation’s antifragility, and offers a view of stewardship approaches to every sector and type of UK organisation, from large premium listed companies to start-ups, the public sector, not-for-profits, partnerships, and family-owned and private-equity-backed organisations.
Aspiring and experienced directors will each benefit from this book as well as those who provide board evaluation services, professional advisers, auditors, and those who provide training and other support for board members.
1.Governance and the Role of the Board
David Watt, Arturo Langa, and Eileen Maclean
2.Governance Codes
Carum Basra and Monica Langa
3.Risk Management in the Boardroom
Vicky Kubitscheck
4.Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability
Sital Cheema and Monica Langa
5.Executive Directors on the Board
Chris Pearse, Monica Langa, and Lorraine Clinton
6.Role of the Company Secretary
Sheelagh Duffield and Gayle Watson
7.Recruiting and Maintaining an Effective Board
Monica Langa and Arturo Langa
8.Gaining Your First Non-Executive Board Appointment
Francesca Ecsery
9.Governance in the Private Sector
Charlotte Valeur, Claire Fargeot, and Patricia Barclay
10.Governance in the Public Sector
Rachel Gwyon and Arturo Langa
11.Governance in the Charity/Voluntary Sector
Patricia Armstrong and Margaret Wright
Biography
Arturo Langa is an experienced Non-executive Director. His executive career has spanned in excess of 30 years in the NHS and includes senior management roles and chairing leadership committees relating to clinical governance and oversight. This has led to a passion for board governance, which he brings to his non-executive Board roles. His current roles include being a non-executive director of NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) and serving on the Court of Queen Margaret University and he is still a practicing senior clinician (Consultant) in the NHS. Previous board roles have included large charities where he chaired board committees. He has also been a board adviser to a number of MedTech companies. He provides strategic input, business knowledge, and seeks to adhere to strong governance principles in every boardroom setting. Arturo is an active investor in early-stage companies. He has been an editor and an editorial board member of a number of professional journals and a published author in academic publications as well as a Visiting Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Monica Langa is the Chair and Non-executive Director of a number of private-equity-backed companies and of an Angel Investment Syndicate. She is a former Fund Manager/Investment Director and also worked at the Institute of Directors. She has over 20 years' Non-executive Board experience in the charity/voluntary and the venture capital sectors. As a Director of an executive search practice, Monica specialises in Non-executive Board appointments and independent Board evaluations for the listed investment company and financial mutual sectors, so she spends the majority of her time both advocating for and experiencing best practice in governance in some of the most highly regulated boards in the UK. She holds the Institute of Director’s Certificate in Company Direction, holds an MSc in Investment Analysis, is a qualified banker (Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland), and a qualified HR professional (CIPD).
"For anyone considering joining a board, this book offers invaluable practical insight. The chapter on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) is particularly relevant at a time when stakeholder capitalism is on the rise. This is something I think about frequently and it is the talk of boardrooms around the world."
Ann Cairns, Executive Vice Chair – Mastercard, Global Chair 30% Club, Lead Director – Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Chair Intercontinental Exchange and Chair – Financial Alliance for Women
"It offers a practical guide for non-executive and executive board directors in the private, public and charity sectors of the UK. Its unusual but compelling combination of factual information and personal insights provided by practicing board members, offering insights that are just not available anywhere else."
Peter Allanson, Good Governance Institute
"This topic is of extreme importance to all Boards. Every director should understand the implications and ramifications for their business. The editors and contributing authors add to the growing body of scholarly and other works that provide a grounding and underpinning to the understanding of good governance."
Jonathan Geldart, Director General, Institute of Directors
