Governance in the New Decade: The Rise of Boardroom ESG

Preparing Boards to address trends and systemic risks such as Pandemics, Climate Change, Racism and other ESG topics impacting Boards and their organizations.

COVID-19, recognition of institutionalized racism and climate change are rapidly transforming organizations and board room dynamics. Boards and governance professionals need to equip themselves to understand the evolving expectations of boards as society hurtles through the 21^st century.

Get up to speed in this one-day deep dive with global thought leaders, experts and practitioners representing the full ecosystem around the board and governance professionals, in Canada and internationally.

This program features a full day of expert panels and discussion designed for executives and professionals of all levels and organizations, and will address the following:

• What is ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and Climate Governance and how does this relate to the board’s role?
• What lessons can boards learn from COVID-19 and the calls for racial justice and Indigenous reconciliation, to improve their governance of social and environmental trends and risks going forward?
• What else is rising to the board agenda? What new issues are boards facing and why? What can we expect in the coming decade?
• What are the legal, investor and business cases driving boards to adopt best practices in ESG and climate governance and oversight?
• What should sustainability practitioners, governance professionals and corporate directors know about ESG and Climate Governance?
• What practices should competent boards have in place to build ESG and Climate Governance in their organizations from the perspective of directors and corporate secretaries?
• How is the rest of the world responding? What are international developments and perspectives on ESG Governance and the implications for Canadian governance?
• How are capital markets making use of ESG information and how does it affect investor decision-making?

Click here for the event flyer and full agenda.

Keynote Speaker:

Wes Hall, ICD.D

Executive Chairman, KSS Group of Companies

Wes is Founder and Chairman of The Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against Anti-Black Systemic Racism and the BlackNorth Initiative, a council dedicated to holding corporations accountable for ending anti-Black racism in their organizations. He was also named one of Canada’s most powerful business people in 2016.

Who should attend:

This session is appropriate for any governance professional, board member or leader who has (or would like to have) a key role vis-a-vis their board’s oversight and accountability of ESG and climate risks. It is also relevant for investors, owners, and professionals involved in sustainability, CSR, risk, strategy, investor relations, or capital markets who seek to better understand and be on top of this trend.

Speaker line-up includes:

(click here for speaker bios)

• Ravipal Bains, Associate, McMillan LLP
• Kim Baird, Board Member
• Helle Bank Jorgensen, CEO & Founder, Competent Boards Inc.
• John Bell, Chief Advisor Strategic Planning, Governance and Sustainability, BC Housing
  
• Stephanie Bertels, Director, Centre for Corporate Governance and Sustainability, SFU Beedie School of Business and Founder, Embedding Project
• Jamie Bonham, Director, Corporate Engagement, NEI Investments
• Blythe Clark, Engagement & Stewardship Analyst, Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group Ltd.
• Jennifer Coulson, Vice President, ESG, Public Markets, BCI
• Robin Cox, Professor School of Humanitarian Studies, Director, ResilienceByDesign Research Innovation Lab (RbD), Royal Roads University
• Roopa Davé, Partner, Sustainability Services, KPMG
• Michelle De Cordova, Principal, ESG Global Advisors
• Wes Hall, Executive Chairman, KSS Group of Companies and Founder and Chair of The BlackNorth Initiative
• Gary Hawton, Senior Director of Client Relations, Sustainalytics
• Lisa Hayles, Investment Manager, Trillium
• Argiro Kotsalis, Vice President, Legal and Chief Governance Officer, Vancouver Airport Authority
• Carol Liao, Associate Professor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia
• Karina Litvack, Non-Executive Director, Eni S.p.A. and Founder/Executive Director of Chapter Zero
• Will Martindale, Director of Policy & Research, PRI
• Penny McIntyre, Corporate Director, PVH
• Margie Parikh, Principal, On Governance Consulting, and Board Director
• Ian Robertson, Vice President, Director, Portfolio Manager, Odlum Brown Limited and Chair of the Board, Responsible Investment Association
• Shannon Rohan, Chief Strategy Officer, Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE)
• Dottie Schindlinger, Executive Director of the Diligent Institute, Diligent
  
• Christie Stephenson, Executive Director, Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics, UBC Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
• Coro Strandberg, President, Strandberg Consulting and GPC advisor on Sustainability Governance
• Andrew Sweeney, Vice President & Portfolio Manager, PH&N Institutional, RBC Global Asset Management
• Bob Walker, International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)
• Scott Williams, Associate Director, PwC

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