Board secretaries congregate
Marcusevans conferences organised the 7th Annual Board Secretary Forum at The Address Dubai Marina last month. The theme of the seminar focused on The Year Ahead: Revolutionising the DNA of board secretaries in spearheading and governing the boardroom steadfastly. The chair of the seminar was John Tothill, regional company secretary of HSBC Middle East Limited. On Day one, the keynote address was delivered by Carina Wessels, group company secretary of Exxaro in South Africa. She focused on exploring the evolving role of board secretaries in delivering added value for organisations and boards. Her presentation dwelt on the importance of shouldering extra responsibilities for the board and the need to step up one’s game to assist and contribute to the board’s decision making process. Other speakers included Claire Alves of Jumeirah Group who spoke about elevating the role of a board secretary to strategic advisor and Vijay Ojha of Sharaf Group on how linking the board and the business.
Day two opened with a keynote session by Leonardo Peklar, a leadership and governance expert, on stimulating and embracing sound corporate governance across the board and the organisation. He shared his thoughts on discovering how corporate governance practices are evolving in the MENA and its neighbouring regions, determining what is driving corporate changes within boards and finding out how to engage boards on corporate governance issues. Souhayel Tayeb, general counsel and group company secretary of Commercial Bank of Dubai delivered his presentation on innovating the board secretarial role to add value beyond administration efficiency. The highlight of day was a panel discussion on devising the right formula to enhance the board secretaries DNA to its fullest potential. Ahmed AbdulQudoos of BBK Bahrain, Carina Wessels, Souhayel Tayeb and Roudayna Esber of Amanat Holdings featured on the panel moderated by John Tothill. Cyber security, problem solving and necessary soft skills were discussed. The panelists emphasised on the need to be constantly updated on what’s happening within the company, undergoing specific training to stay on top of matters and how passion for the job should translate into the board secretary’s ability to take decisions. The seminar also featured roundtable and mini think tank sessions where delegates had the opportunity to interact, brainstorm and exchange ideas on best practices and analyse potential factors to propose solutions.
