iNED Forum: Culture and the Board – “How to make the intangible, practical”

There is much current conversation around the importance of Culture in business, not least from our Regulators. This is often linked to discussions about building a Culture which supports Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Customer Centricity [and Consumer Duty delivery], as well as Sustainability and broader ESG ambitions.

In looking to ensure delivery of the desired Culture, iNEDs face the challenge of not being embedded in the company day-to-day to see at first hand their organisation’s behaviours. In the midst of tight deadlines and financial imperatives, how can Boards ascertain the current Culture of their businesses and instigate and measure effective, practical change if it is required?

We have assembled a panel with hands on experience in changing Culture, as well as the consequences when poor Culture is allowed to prevail. Join our panel to hear their initial thoughts followed by an open floor Q&A session which will be aided by the in person format of this Forum. I am delighted that our panel members are:

 

Sarah Gillard- CEO and Board Member - A Blueprint for Better Business

Dr Helen Phillips- Non-Exec Chair - Chartered Insurance Institute

Chris Beazley- CEO - SCOR UK

Alison McHaffie- Partner - CMS Law

 

Learning Objectives

Participants should be able to:

• Articulate what is meant by Culture in a business context and what Boards should look for to establish “good” or “not”.
• Describe the evidence that “Good Culture” delivers better, sustainable results for a business.
•  Summarise why Regulators are increasingly requiring reporting and metrics.
• Set out how a new CEO/Board  can establish the presence or absence of Good Culture, the key steps and measures for change and how is it visible.
• Explain the regulatory and legal consequences today for businesses and their Boards if they ignore cultural standards.

Speaker(s)

Chris Beazley
CEO SCOR UK & SCOR Syndicate

Chris joined SCOR in September 2022 as CEO of SCOR UK and the SCOR Syndicate. He has more than 20 years of experience, having worked for underwriting and broking firms whilst based in the UK, Switzerland, Singapore and the US.
Having started his career with Willis, Chris joined MS Amlin in 2007 to create their Singapore business as Managing Director & Principal Officer.  He went on to hold a number of leadership roles across the global insurance and reinsurance businesses. Following a two-year secondment as CEO of the London Market Group, he returned to the company in 2018 as CEO of MS Amlin AG based in Zurich. 
Chris is a Chartered Insurer and an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute.  He is a Vice-President of the Insurance Institute of London.

Sarah Gillard
CEO, Blueprint

Sarah is the CEO of Blueprint for Better Business, a charity that helps businesses to be inspired and guided by a purpose that benefits society and respects people and planet. She is a passionate advocate for making business “more human” - places where people flourish, communities prosper, and long-term sustainability is the driving force. She has over 25 years’ experience leading in fast-paced commercial environments at some of the UK’s largest retail companies.

Alison McHaffie
Partner, CMS Law

Alison McHaffie is a partner in the Financial Services and Products Team specialising in all types of contentious regulatory and governance matters.  She qualified at CMS in 1995 and has over 25 years of experience of advising financial institutions and their senior management on these issues.  Alison has an in-depth understanding of how the regulators approach investigations and in successfully helping clients manage significant regulatory issues and remediation projects without regulatory intervention.

Dr Helen Phillips FRSB, DL
Chair, CII Board

Dr Helen Phillips was re-appointed chair of the Board in 2023 for a second three year term. She is the first independent lay chair of the board following changes to the governance of the CII effected in 2020.
 
Helen is also currently chair of NHS Professionals Ltd, a company wholly owned by the Department of Health and Social Care, and a Commissioner of the Gambling Commission. Her previous non executive roles include chairing the Legal Services Board, the oversight regulator for the legal services sector, from 2017 to 2023, and chairing Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from 2015 to 2024. Helen was also a founding non executive director of Social Work England from 2018 - 2021.
 
Previously Helen was a Board Director of Yorkshire Water and chair of Loop Customer Management Ltd, a Kelda Group subsidiary. Prior to that her career as a regulator was as founding Chief Executive and Board member of Natural England, and before that as Director, Wales of the Environment Agency.