To introduce our new 8-week online course Governance for a Sustainable Future, CISL is hosting a thought-provoking panel debate. The panel will assume different organisational roles to debate a governance dilemma and create a proposal to address it.
Following the debate, speakers will analyse the decision-making process and uncover misconceptions about governance.
Join Richard Calland, Director of CISL in South Africa in a discussion with Course Convener Dr Mario Abela, Beatriz Araujo, Head Tutor and course contributors Dr Victoria Hurth, and Bola Tinubu.
The speakers examine purpose and profit, the role of stakeholders, differing stakeholder perspectives, and other principles of governance. Discover what it means to adopt a purpose-driven governance approach that supports good decision-making aligned with a sustainable future.
Date: Tuesday, 12 December 2023
Time: 15:00 – 16:00 BST/GMT
Location: Online
About the Speakers
Dr Mario Abela - Convenor, Governance for a Sustainable Future
Dr Mario Abela is a Strategic Advisor to the Value Balancing Alliance and adjunct professor at Audencia Business School, France. His research interest is in the role of stakeholders in how business’ create value and sustain it through purpose-led governance. He is the Global Chair of WICI and also a member of a number of global committees such as the IMA’s Sustainable Business Management Global Task Force and is a Commissioner on the Global Value Commission. Mario is a recognised expert in accounting, reporting and governance. Mario holds a PhD in Accounting from the University of London, a Masters of Science from Linkoping University, Sweden and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has held senior executive positions in both the public and private sector and for the last decade has been working in the area of sustainability and the importance of accounting and governance in companies transitioning to a sustainable economy. Mario is passionate about promoting the role accounting and governance can play in driving towards more sustainable businesses and is a frequent presenter at international conferences and seminars
Richard Calland – Lead Contributor
CISL South Africa Director, Richard Calland has thirty years of experience in law, politics and sustainability. As a member of the London Bar he practiced law for seven years before coming to South Africa in 1994, where he is now based at the University of Cape Town (UCT) as an Associate Professor in Public Law.
Dr Victoria Hurth – Lead Contributor
Dr Victoria Hurth is a global executive advisor and interdisciplinary pracademic working at the leading edge of theory and practice in sustainable business. Her work with cross-sector global organisations focuses on 5 key areas that underpin strategy and execution: purpose, governance, marketing, leadership and culture.Victoria is a Fellow of University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and is engaged by CISL on a range of executive and academic leadership programmes thought leadership and research, including with some of the world’s largest financing organisations. She co-designed, and is Head Tutor, for CISL’s online certificate: ‘Sustainable Marketing, Media and Culture.’
Beatriz Araujo - Head Tutor, Governance for a Sustainable Future
Beatriz spent her 38 year career at Baker McKenzie, a leading global law firm. She joined as a trainee (1985) and retired in June 2023 when she reached the agreed partner retirement age. The experience gathered over this period is very diverse – in a nutshell:
M&A/transactional (1987 – 2009)
Created and led Corporate Governance practice (Band 1 rated by Legal 500) (2013-2023)
Since serving on a full-time basis on the Firm's Global Executive Committee (2009-2013), Beatriz has spearheaded Baker McKenzie's Corporate Governance Group. Beatriz' practice focuses on advising boards and multinational groups on company law, particularly director duties, corporate governance frameworks and best practice approaches to embed ESG and values across organisations with a view to companies building trust with all stakeholders and third parties, including regulators.
Bola Tinubu
Bola Tinubu leads the Corporate Practice at DLA Piper Africa’s office in Nigeria. She has a wealth of experience spanning almost 30 years in advising businesses with interests in Nigeria on corporate acquisitions and disposals, strategic partnerships, and complex group re-organizations.
She also leads the firm’s Board Advisory Service as a trusted advisor with a special focus on Corporate Governance, ESG law and Sustainability Leadership; and her counsel is regularly sought by company boards on performance matters, ethical issues, and in times of corporate crises.
A strategic thinker, Bola is a seasoned Non-Executive Director and Tri-Sector Chair, leading boards across private, public, and development sectors including The Boardroom Africa and The Lagos State Office of the Public Defender. Bola is respected for her thought leadership on corporate leadership, with numerous publications and articles to her credit, and she combines her passion for knowledge and business governance to serve on the faculty the IoD Academy UK as a Course Leader. She is the first female Chartered Director in Africa, a Harvard Certified Corporate Director, a Chartered Governance Professional, a Chartered Company Secretary, a Global ESG Competent Board Designate and a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional. She has also been awarded Fellowship of the Institute of Directors, UK, the Institute of Directors, Nigeria, the Governance Institute UK and the Institute of Secretaries and Administrators, Nigeria. Bola was named by the BBC in its 2018 list of 100 inspiring and influential women around the world for her charity work with children who have been abused. She was also named one of Nigeria’s most inspiring women in 2019 by Leading Ladies Africa. Bola is also a published author.
About the course
CISL's online course Governance for a Sustainable Future equips you with the knowledge of good governance principles and frameworks that can be applied to align your business with a sustainable future.
It aims to demonstrate on the essential role of good corporate governance in creating effective strategies underpinned by informed decision-making. It invites you to examine various real-world case studies, and to analyse the current unsustainable challenges caused by failing governance practices. You will investigate how resulting impacts and risks can affect business outcomes and negate any short-term successes.
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