Actuaries and the Board - the Position of the Supposed Expert NED

The NED's MIG Managing Committee are hosting an Open Forum event on the above topic, the speakers include:

• Mike Arnold (NED and chair of Risk Committee at Old Mutual)
• Paul Bradshaw (chair) (Chair at Nucleus and NED of Sanlam companies)
• Professor Richard Roberts, Professor of Contemporary History, King’s College London (Author of Did anyone learn anything from Equitable Life?)
• John Tiner (Audit Committee Chairman, Credit Suisse Group; NED at FLG; former Chief Executive of FSA)
• Sir Mark Weinberg (Non-Executive Chairman at Pension Insurance Corporation)

What to expect

Abstract: “Actuaries as experts in a non executive role, lessons from history and how to avoid future pitfalls"

How do you, as an Actuary and a non-executive director, ensure good governance in a complex business where, because of your actuarial skills and experience, the rest of the board expect you to understand the complexities of the business and the modelling supporting it?

What if your own experience isn't as up to date as the knowledge needed to understand the models being used in your business? What if the Board don't understand themselves, how can you help them?

The following extract from a report on the demise of Equitable and other financial institutions by Richard Roberts, Professor of Contemporary History at Kings College, London makes some interesting points about non executives in complex businesses:

The near impossibility of fulfilling the role of NED at a large complex systemically important financial institution is widely recognised by potential candidates. Many interviewees stated that they would not accept an invitation to join such a board in a NED capacity because of the reputational risk.....Moreover, even relatively rare candidates with adequate technical grounding would need constant training to keep abreast of rapidly evolving methods involving an extensive and intensive commitment. ' If you want to be a NED, join Diageo not a bank', was one interviewees' advice.

So, suitably warned are you still interested in the NED opportunity? If so, you may want to attend this meeting.

Times

17.30 - 18.00  Registration and Networking

18.00 - 20.00  Programme

20.00 - 20.30  Networking and drinks reception 

Sponsor

With grateful thanks to Towers Watson for sponsoring the event.