On Board April 2009

Email Newsletter of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs Nominations Service

Nga mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa. Welcome to the twelfth edition of On Board.

In this edition:

• Nominations Service Update
• New Publication: ‘Women on Boards’ Business Case
• Governance Training Opportunities
      o Institute of Directors in New Zealand Governance Training
      o Governance Training through EMA
      o Second Diversity Conference in Australia
• Governance Articles online at professionelle.co.nz
• Recent appointments of women to state sector boards and committees.

Click here for a .pdf version.

Nominations Service Update

During the first four months of 2009, we have received a large number of requests for nominations for state sector boards and committees. This has been due to the typical ‘January rush’ of appointments along with the creation of a number of new steering groups and taskforces.

We continue to look for new opportunities to nominate women on our database. It’s therefore as important as ever that we have up-to-date details about your skills, achievements, work and governance experience, and how to contact you.

If you haven’t updated your CV with us in a while, now would be a good time. If you’re unsure how old your CV is, email us and we’ll provide you with the most recent copy that we hold.

As the Nominations Service has been consulted on a record number of nominations requests, we’ve been well-placed to notice some emerging trends:

• a move towards smaller boards. For instance, the Conservation Boards are gradually reducing their numbers from 12 to 10 by not filling unplanned vacancies or seeking replacements for members who have completed two terms
• an increased emphasis on candidates with business and commercial skills
• the dis-establishment of some boards, such as the Bioethics Council and the Growth and Innovation Advisory Board.

New Publication: ‘Women on Boards’ Business Case

MWA is working with Business New Zealand and the Institute of Directors in New Zealand to publish a document entitled Women on Boards: Why women on company boards are good for business.

The document presents the growing evidence of a positive correlation between women on boards and company performance. It outlines steps business leaders can take to find qualified women directors and to develop more over time.

Women on Boards will be available on the MWA website from late May 2009.

Institute of Directors in New Zealand Governance Training

The Institute of Directors offers a professional development programme that enables directors to meet the challenges of the boardroom at all stages of their career, from aspiring directors to experienced company chairs.

Courses include:

• the ‘Essentials’ series (which contains material that is relevant to executive level and early stage directors)
• the week-long residential Company Directors Course
• interactive contemporary workshops for chairs and experienced directors.

Balancing technical content with director experience, these courses are delivered ‘for directors, by directors’. The courses are continually revised to ensure they are current and topical whilst retaining the essence of best practice governance.

For more details and a timetable of upcoming courses, please visit www.iod.org.nz or email the Institute at professionaldevelopment@iod.org.nz

Governance Training Opportunity through EMA

The Employers and Manufacturers Association are again offering the Qualified Director Course developed by Jens Mueller and Sandy Maier. During this three and a half day programme, practitioners from leading New Zealand and global firms will present a tool kit for existing and aspiring company directors.

For further information you can click on this link to find out about the upcoming Auckland Seminar on July 8.

Second Diversity on Boards Conference in Australia

The second Diversity on Boards conference will be held in Sydney from 1 to 3 September 2009. The conference has been organised by the Australian organisation Women on Boards, as part of its programme to improve the gender balance and increase diversity on Australian company boards.

Presentations at conference include:

• a day-long workshop, focusing on becoming a board-ready director
• a plenary session conducted by Arni Hole (Director General of Norway’s Ministry of Children and Equality) and Liz Broderick of the Australian Sex Discrimination Commission, discussing whether there is merit in quotas
• a session entitled ‘Where are the Women?’. This will be led by the chair of the Australian Stock Exchange, David Gonski, who will be joined by Katie Lahey, Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia and other business leaders.

Participants from New Zealand are welcome; Pamela and Sean attended the conference last year and felt it was a valuable source of ideas and contacts. The conference also provides an opportunity to meet with others who are seeking directorships, and to build support and mentoring networks.

For further information about the second Diversity on Boards conference, please click here.

Governance Articles online at professionelle.co.nz

Professionelle.co.nz has recently published two articles about governance that you may be interested in.

In the first article, Nicola Rowe, a director of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre in London, examines what it’s like to be on a board of directors. She describes how boards are structured, and gives an overview of a board’s basic advisory and governance functions.

Click here to read ‘To Advise and to Govern (A Peek Inside the Corporate Boardroom)’.

Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes, co-founder of Professionelle, and a former strategic business consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, reviews ‘A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom’. Published in 2005, this book examines:

• the reasons for the low number of women in private-sector boardrooms and senior management teams
• the business case for why it is important to increase the number of women in these roles
• what can be done to increase the number of women in these roles.

Click here to read the review of ‘A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom’.

Professionelle.co.nz is an online community of professional women. Their website provides advice, support, and up-to-date research on issues faced by women at all stages of their careers and lives.

Recent appointments of women to state sector boards and committees

Congratulations to all the women recently appointed to state sector boards and committees. They include:

Keeping in touch

We’re always happy to talk with you either by phone or in person about your CV and your governance goals.  If you are going to be in Wellington and would like to meet, then give us a call on (04) 916-5814.

The Team

Pamela Cohen
Director, Nominations Service
(04) 916 5849, email cohen@mwa.govt.nz

Sean Molloy
Senior Nominations Advisor
(04) 916 5814, email molloy@mwa.govt.nz

Steve Hickey
Nominations Advisor
(04) 916-5824, email hickey@mwa.govt.nz

Clare Needham
Nominations Advisor
(04) 916-5852, email needham@mwa.govt.nz

Joy Aberdein
Executive Assistant
(04) 916 5820, email noms@mwa.govt.nz

If you have any queries about the information in this newsletter, or the Nominations Service in general, please contact Sean or Pamela.