Guild members

For over 30 years I’ve worked with leaders and boards across the private and public sectors to review their performance, gain insights into their areas for development, and to help them build and manage the relationships necessary to deliver business results. I am a co-founder of Socia Ltd, a business focused on reviewing and building good governance and collaborative leadership capability at board level across sectors.

I have also contributed to the creation of the Infrastructure Governance Code, which aims to bring best practice governance from the FRC governance code to complex construction programmes. Collaborative Leadership: Building relationships, handing conflict and sharing control (Routledge 2013) documents the values and approach which underpins my work.

Specialties

• Board reviews – all sectors but especially in businesses with complex governance arrangements
• Executive coaching
• Conflict resolution
• Group facilitation

Socia website

I am a founding director and CEO of Bvalco. I help boards and leadership teams prepare for the future by designing and delivering external board reviews and other board advisory services, with a particular emphasis on the human behaviour and dynamics elements that can contribute to, or undermine, board effectiveness. My clients value me for my ability to listen deeply to issues and concerns and for helping leaders find actionable solutions that deliver improvements.

By background I am a behavioural psychologist. I acted as a special advisor on matters of culture and behaviour to Sir David Walker, for his Review of Banks and Other Financial Institutions. This gave rise to the recommendation in the Corporate Governance Code that boards should be reviewed externally once every three years. Bvalco was set up following this in 2011 and I have delivered Board effectiveness reviews for many organisations from FTSE 100, 250, family-owned businesses, sporting organisations and charities. My Board reviews are different. By combining commercial experience with behavioural psychology and governance expertise, I can provide a deeper understanding of board psychology and therefore clearer insights to achieve greater effectiveness.

I am keen to improve the quality of boards through the education of board directors. In 2011 I helped to set up and design the FT's award-winning Non- Executive Director Diploma. I am a lead tutor and Advisory Board Member for the diploma. The diploma has several thousand graduates, of whom more than 70% go on to become successful board directors.

A keen sportswoman, I am a triple Olympian for rowing and now have a passion for the sport of eventing. I ride as a competitive amateur but more importantly I support young rider Lissa Green and I am the Independent Chair of British Eventing’s Horse Welfare Advisory Panel.

Bvalco website

Having trained and worked as a company secretary with a number of blue-chip companies, I set up Prism Cosec, a leading company secretarial practice in 2002, which was sold to Equiniti Group in 2012. Since then, I have been providing board evaluation and founded Ceradas in 2017 as a niche business providing independent board effectiveness reviews.

In a rapidly changing business environment, with wider stakeholder engagement issues coming to the fore for boards, I believe that my knowledge of how boards work informs my understanding of how boards and their committees need to change and evolve. Having been involved over many years in the preparation of annual reports, I am particularly interested in the development of corporate governance reporting. My understanding of this important area of board communication has been further enhanced by my role as Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Board of Emperor Design, one of the UK’s largest independent corporate creative communications agencies. I am also a mentor and adviser.

Specialities

• UK capital markets and their corporate governance frameworks
• Stakeholder engagement and corporate reporting
• Boardroom practice
• Natural resources
• Construction and engineering
• Entrepreneurship

Ceradas website

• 20 years’ experience as a senior executive (mainly General Counsel/Company Secretary) – principally in financial services but also in retail.
• Board effectiveness reviews constitute the main part of my consultancy work (60%+) – clients range from FTSE 100 to not-for-profits to major charities. About 50% of the board effectiveness reviews I undertake are for regulated financial services companies.
• APECS (Association of Professional Executive Coaching & Supervision) Certified Professional Executive Coach. Currently training to be a Team Coach with Meyler Campbell.
• CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) Accredited Mediator.
• Course Director Cranfield NED Programme; nominated for Most Inspiring Associate
• I regularly publish on governance matters in journals such as Governance.

From the perspective of a board adviser, I believed – and still do – that there had to be a better way for leaders to work together. An external perspective – honest and robust – allows the board the opportunity for reflection and discussion about how to enhance both team and individual performance.

I now work as a consultant. My principal aim is to help boards and excos enhance their performance and thereby improve the organisations they lead. In doing so, I use an approach that allows people to be heard and listened to.

Specialities

• Board effectiveness reviews
• Executive coaching
• Mediation (CEDR accredited mediator)
• Facilitation
• Training and development

Ian White's website