In September, 2013, a senior group of individuals who have worked together for over twenty years decided to take a leap of faith and build something new and exciting. Advanced Boardroom Excellence was formed and officially launched in January 2014.
As part of our ongoing commitment to research in the Board Effectiveness arena we published ‘The Effective Board’, which sought to draw upon our experience of boards and our current thinking around boards and individual collective director effectiveness. We also launched a ‘Draft Code of Practice for Board Evaluation’, following a wide gathering of opinions from interested parties, the code included a supportive forward by Sir David Walker. ICSA have taken our draft code and are managing the Consultation and hope to issue a final Code in 2015.
During 2014 we went from strength to strength. We successfully established our brand, undertook some major Board Reviews, provided Director Development Coaching/Mentoring as well as a full range of executive coaching engagements.
In September 2014, we launched our third piece of research – ‘Diversity 2014: Riding the Waves of the Executive Pipeline’ which focused on diversity in the executive pipeline, in particular women. The research involved interviewing 70 women in detail about their careers. We hosted a breakfast seminar at the Mayfair Hotel with 30 of the 70 women interviewed present. The research contains practical guidelines for individuals to follow, the first one of its kind! Twitter picked up on Helen’s comments that ‘“It is blatantly ridiculous – and must be recognised as such – that with male and female working populations that are broadly numerically equal, women are still a minority group by the time they reach the most senior levels of organisations” and she is still being quoted today!
In September 2014 we hosted another Reception at Claridges for our clients, friends and colleagues. In the same month, Helen was appointed to the Board of IWF and her Chairmanship of the Queens Counsel Selection Panel was extended – another first!.
In October 2014, Helen and Jackie made a quick trip to Berlin to support the CRF Conference and we are proud to say that we are sponsoring the CRF, HRD Dinner in November 2015. We recognise that many of the issues at Board level (Succession, Remuneration, Culture and Tone) fall squarely within the HR remit!
In November 2014, we sponsored the HR Network Awards Glasgow and proudly presented the CEO of the Year award to Brian Bannatyne from RESPONSE.
The end of 2014 saw Helen manage a weekend in Fontainebleau at INSEAD, where she attended a new programme called ‘Leading from the Chair’. Truly excellent and well worth considering attending.
Throughout 2014, Helen has had various articles published, from the Hawkamah Journal, The Investor Relations Society to Governance and has also been quoted in the Guardian and Sunday Times.
Our sponsored Charity, KidsOut, ran various events throughout the year and started off with a ‘Question of Sport – London’. A visit to the House of Commons with drinks at the Speakers House, the highlight was catching a glimpse of the Speaker as he ushered his son out as they were on their way to a football match! KidsOut then enjoyed their annual Summer Ball in June and in September managed a theatre trip to see ‘The Play that goes Wrong’ in the West End. Another Question of Sport, this time in Manchester supported by Helen’s Dad who sponsored many tables. The year then finished in Scotland with the final Question of Sport event which raised a record amount. All events were a great success raising much needed funds for the KidsOut charity which supports Children who are disadvantaged for any reason. A huge thank you from all at Advanced Boardroom Excellence to those that attended and so generously donated.
For 2015, Advanced Boardroom Excellence, are continuing to focus on Board Evaluation, Board Effectiveness and individual director development programmes. Our latest programme which we are told is unique focuses on NED Development for high flying corporate talent, designed to push them to the next level of their career achievement and stretch and develop them for the top roles in organisations. This innovative programme provides a powerful combination of coaching and sourcing of NED roles providing a strategic catalyst and boost to the individual’s corporate career.
To find out more please contact jackiew@abexcellence.com
