Podcasts about board diversity

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 23rd July 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references:  Sam Mullins, Trustee at SS Great Britainhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sammullins/https://www.ssgreatbritain.org/ Transcriptions:  Paul Marden: What an amazing day out here. Welcome to Skip the Queue. The podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions, I'm your host, Paul Marden, and today you join me for the last episode of the season here in a very sunny and very pleasant Bristol Dockyard. I'm here to visit the SS Great Britain and one of their trustees, Sam Mullins, who until recently, was the CEO of London Transport Museum. And I'm going to be talking to Sam about life after running a big, family friendly Museum in the centre of London, and what comes next, and I'm promising you it's not pipes and the slippers for Sam, he's been very busy with the SSGreat Britain and with other projects that we'll talk a little more about. But for now, I'm going to enjoy poodling across the harbour on boat number five awaiting arrival over at the SS Great Britain. Paul Marden: Is there much to catch in the water here?Sam Mullins: According to some research, there's about 36 different species of fish. They catch a lot of cream. They catch Roach, bullet, bass car. Big carpet there, maybe, yeah, huge carpet there. And then your European great eel is here as well, right? Yeah, massive things by the size of your leg, big heads. It's amazing. It goes to show how receipt your life is. The quality of the water is a lot better now. Paul Marden: Oh yeah, yeah, it's better than it used to be years ago. Thank you very much. All right. Cheers. Have a good day. See you later on. So without further ado, let's head inside. So where should we head? Too fast. Sam Mullins: So we start with the stern of the ship, which is the kind of classic entrance view, you know. Yeah, coming up, I do. I love the shape of this ship as you as you'll see.Paul Marden: So lovely being able to come across the water on the boat and then have this as you're welcome. It's quite a.Sam Mullins: It's a great spot. Isn't it?Paul Marden: Really impactful, isn't it? Sam Mullins:  Because the amazing thing is that it's going this way, is actually in the dry dock, which was built to build it. Paul Marden: That's amazing. Sam Mullins: So it came home. It was clearly meant to be, you know,Paul Marden:  Quite the circular story.Sam Mullins:  Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Paul Marden:  Thank you. Wow. Look at that view.Sam Mullins: So that's your classic view.Paul Marden:  So she's in a dry dock, but there's a little bit of water in there, just to give us an idea of what's going on. Sam Mullins: Well, what's actually going on in here is, preserving the world's first iron ship. So it became clear, after he'd come back from the Falklands, 1970 came back to Bristol, it became clear that the material of the ship was rusting away. And if something wasn't done, there'd be nothing left, nothing left to show. So the innovative solution is based on a little bit of science if you can reduce the relative humidity of the air around the cast iron hull of the ship to around about 20% relative humidity, corrosion stops. Rusting stops. It's in a dry dock. You glaze over the dock at kind of water line, which, as you just noticed, it gives it a really nice setting. It looks like it's floating, yeah, it also it means that you can then control the air underneath. You dry it out, you dehumidify it. Big plant that dries out the air. You keep it at 20% and you keep the ship intact. Paul Marden: It's interesting, isn't it, because you go to Mary Rose, and you go into the ship Hall, and you've got this hermetically sealed environment that you can maintain all of these beautiful Tudor wooden pieces we're outside on a baking hot day. You don't have the benefit of a hermetically sealed building, do you to keep this? Sam Mullins: I guess the outside of the ship is kind of sealed by the paint. That stops the air getting to the bit to the bare metal. We can go down into the trigger, down whilst rise up.Paul Marden:  We're wondering. Sam, yeah, why don't you introduce yourself, tell listeners a little bit about your background. How have we ended up having this conversation today.Sam Mullins: I'm Sam Mullins. I'm a historian. I decided early on that I wanted to be a historian that worked in museums and had an opportunity to kind of share my fascination with the past with museum visitors. So I worked in much Wenlock in Shropshire. I worked created a new museum in market Harbour, a community museum in Leicestershire. I was director of museums in St Albans, based on, you know, great Roman Museum at Verulamium, okay. And ended up at London Transport Museum in the 90s, and was directed there for a long time.Paul Marden: Indeed, indeed. Oh, we are inside now and heading underground.Sam Mullins: And you can hear the thrumming in the background. Is the dehumidification going on. Wow. So we're descending into thevery dry dock.Paul Marden: So we're now under water level. Yes, and the view of the ceiling with the glass roof, which above looked like a lovely little pond, it's just beautiful, isn't it?Sam Mullins: Yes, good. It sets it off both in both directions, really nicely.Paul Marden: So you've transitioned now, you've moved on from the Transport Museum. And I thought that today's episode, we could focus a little bit on what is, what's life like when you've moved on from being the director of a big, famous, influential, family friendly Museum. What comes next? Is it pipe and slippers, or are there lots of things to do? And I think it's the latter, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yes. Well, you know, I think people retire either, you know, do nothing and play golf, or they build, you know, an interesting portfolio. I wanted to build, you know, something a bit more interesting. And, you know, Paul, there's that kind of strange feeling when you get to retire. And I was retiring from full time executive work, you kind of feel at that point that you've just cracked the job. And at that point, you know, someone gives you, you know, gives you a card and says, "Thank you very much, you've done a lovely job." Kind of, "Off you go." So having the opportunity to deploy some of that long term experience of running a successful Museum in Covent Garden for other organisations was part of that process of transition. I've been writing a book about which I'm sure we'll talk as well that's been kind of full on this year, but I was a trustee here for a number of years before I retired. I think it's really good career development for people to serve on a board to see what it's like, you know, the other side of the board. Paul Marden: I think we'll come back to that in a minute and talk a little bit about how the sausage is made. Yeah, we have to do some icebreaker questions, because I probably get you already. You're ready to start talking, but I'm gonna, I'm just gonna loosen you up a little bit, a couple of easy ones. You're sat in front of the telly, comedy or drama?Sam Mullins: It depends. Probably.Paul Marden: It's not a valid answer. Sam Mullins: Probably, probably drama.Paul Marden: Okay, if you need to talk to somebody, is it a phone call or is it a text message that you'll send?Sam Mullins:  Face to face? Okay, much better. Okay, always better. Paul Marden: Well done. You didn't accept the premise of the question there, did you? Lastly, if you're going to enter a room, would you prefer to have a personal theme tune played every time you enter the room. Or would you like a personal mascot to arrive fully suited behind you in every location you go to?Sam Mullins: I don't know what the second one means, so I go for the first one.Paul Marden: You've not seen a football mascot on watching American football or baseball?Sam Mullins: No, I try and avoid that. I like real sport. I like watching cricket. Paul Marden: They don't do that in cricket. So we are at the business end of the hull of the ship, aren't we? We're next to the propeller. Sam Mullins: We're sitting under the stern. We can still see that lovely, gilded Stern, saying, Great Britain, Bristol, and the windows and the coat of arms across the stern of the ship. Now this, of course, was the biggest ship in the world when built. So not only was it the first, first iron ship of any scale, but it was also third bigger than anything in the Royal Navy at the time. Paul Marden: They talked about that, when we were on the warrior aim the other day, that it was Brunel that was leading the way on what the pinnacle of engineering was like. It was not the Royal Navy who was convinced that it was sail that needed to lead. Sam Mullins: Yeah, Brunel had seen a much smaller, propeller driven vessel tried out, which was being toured around the country. And so they were midway through kind of design of this, when they decided it wasn't going to be a paddle steamer, which its predecessor, the world's first ocean liner, the Great Western. A was a paddle steamer that took you to New York. He decided that, and he announced to the board that he was going to make a ship that was driven by a propeller, which was the first, and this is, this is actually a replica of his patent propeller design. Paul Marden: So, this propeller was, is not the original to the show, okay?Sam Mullins: Later in its career, it had the engines taken out, and it was just a sailing ship. It had a long and interesting career. And for the time it was going to New York and back, and the time it was going to Australia and back, carrying migrants. It was a hybrid, usually. So you use the sails when it was favourable when it wasn't much wind or the wind was against. You use the use the engines. Use the steam engine.Paul Marden: Coming back into fashion again now, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yeah, hybrid, yeah.Paul Marden: I can see holes in the hull. Was this evident when it was still in the Falklands?Sam Mullins: Yeah, it came to notice in the 60s that, you know, this world's first it was beached at Sparrow Cove in the Falkland Islands. It had lost its use as a wool warehouse, which is which it had been for 30 or 40 years. And a number of maritime historians, you and call it. It was the kind of key one realised that this, you know, extraordinary, important piece of maritime heritage would maybe not last too many war winters at Sparrow cope had a big crack down one side of the hull. It would have probably broken in half, and that would have made any kind of conservation restoration pretty well impossible as it was. It was a pretty amazing trick to put it onto a to put a barge underneath, to raise it up out of the water, and to tow it into Montevideo and then across the Atlantic, you know, 7000 miles, or whatever it is, to Avon mouth. So it's a kind of heroic story from the kind of heroic age of industrial and maritime heritage, actually.Paul Marden: It resonates for me in terms of the Mary Rose in that you've got a small group of very committed people that are looking to rescue this really valuable asset. And they find it and, you know, catch it just in time. Sam Mullins: Absolutely. That was one of the kind of eye openers for me at Mary rose last week, was just to look at the kind of sheer difficulty of doing conventional archaeology underwater for years and years. You know, is it 50,000 dives were made? Some immense number. And similarly, here, you know, lots of people kind of simply forget it, you know, it's never gonna, but a few, stuck to it, you know, formed a group, fund, raised. This is an era, of course, you know, before lottery and all that jazz. When you had to, you had to fundraise from the public to do this, and they managed to raise the money to bring it home, which, of course, is only step one. You then got to conserve this enormous lump of metal so it comes home to the dry dock in which it had been built, and that has a sort of fantastic symmetry, you know about it, which I just love. You know, the dock happened to be vacant, you know, in 1970 when the ship was taken off the pontoon at Avon mouth, just down the river and was towed up the curving Avon river to this dock. It came beneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which, of course, was Brunel design, but it was never built in his time. So these amazing pictures of this Hulk, in effect,  coming up the river, towed by tugs and brought into the dock here with 1000s of people you know, surrounding cheering on the sidelines, and a bit like Mary Rose in a big coverage on the BBC.Paul Marden: This is the thing. So I have a very vivid memory of the Mary Rose being lifted, and that yellow of the scaffolding is just permanently etched in my brain about sitting on the carpet in primary school when the TV was rolled out, and it was the only TV in the whole of school that, to me is it's modern history happening. I'm a Somerset boy. I've been coming to Bristol all my life. I wasn't alive when Great Britain came back here. So to me, this feels like ancient history. It's always been in Bristol, because I have no memory of it returning home. It was always just a fixture. So when we were talking the other day and you mentioned it was brought back in the 70s, didn't realise that. Didn't realise that at all. Should we move on? Because I am listening. Gently in the warmth.Sam Mullins: Let's move around this side of the as you can see, the dry dock is not entirely dry, no, but nearly.Paul Marden: So, you're trustee here at SS Great Britain. What does that mean? What do you do?Sam Mullins: Well, the board, Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of the charity. We employ the executives, the paid team here. We work with them to develop the kind of strategy, financial plan, to deliver that strategy, and we kind of hold them as executives to account, to deliver on that.Paul Marden: It's been a period of change for you, hasn't it? Just recently, you've got a new CEO coming to the first anniversary, or just past his first anniversary. It's been in place a little while.Sam Mullins: So in the last two years, we've had a, we've recruited a new chairman, new chief executive, pretty much a whole new leadership team.One more starting next month, right? Actually, we're in July this month, so, yeah, it's been, you know, organisations are like that. They can be very, you know, static for some time, and then suddenly a kind of big turnover. And people, you know, people move.Paul Marden: So we're walking through what is a curved part of the dry dock now. So this is becoming interesting underfoot, isn't it?Sam Mullins: This is built in 1839 by the Great Western Steamship Company to build a sister ship to the Great Western which was their first vessel built for the Atlantic run to New York. As it happens, they were going to build a similar size vessel, but Brunel had other ideas, always pushing the edges one way or another as an engineer.Paul Marden: The keel is wood. Is it all wood? Or is this some sort of?Sam Mullins: No, this is just like, it's sort of sacrificial.So that you know when, if it does run up against ground or whatever, you don't actually damage the iron keel.Paul Marden: Right. Okay, so there's lots happening for the museum and the trust. You've just had a big injection of cash, haven't you, to do some interesting things. So there was a press release a couple of weeks ago, about a million pound of investment. Did you go and find that down the back of the sofa? How do you generate that kind of investment in the charity?Sam Mullins: Unusually, I think that trust that's put the bulk of that money and came came to us. I think they were looking to do something to mark their kind of, I think to mark their wind up. And so that was quite fortuitous, because, as you know at the moment, you know, fundraising is is difficult. It's tough. Paul Marden: That's the understatement of the year, isn't it?Sam Mullins: And with a new team here and the New World post COVID, less, less visitors, income harder to gain from. Pretty well, you know, all sources, it's important to keep the site kind of fresh and interesting. You know, the ship has been here since 1970 it's become, it's part of Bristol. Wherever you go in Bristol, Brunel is, you know, kind of the brand, and yet many Bristolians think they've seen all this, and don't need, you know, don't need to come back again. So keeping the site fresh, keeping the ideas moving on, are really important. So we've got the dockyard museum just on the top there, and that's the object for fundraising at the moment, and that will open in July next year as an account of the building of the ship and its importance. Paul Marden: Indeed, that's interesting. Related to that, we know that trusts, trusts and grants income really tough to get. Everybody's fighting for a diminishing pot income from Ace or from government sources is also tough to find. At the moment, we're living off of budgets that haven't changed for 10 years, if we're lucky. Yeah, for many people, finding a commercial route is the answer for their museum. And that was something that you did quite successfully, wasn't it, at the Transport Museum was to bring commercial ideas without sacrificing the integrity of the museum. Yeah. How do you do that?Sam Mullins: Well, the business of being an independent Museum, I mean, LTM is a to all sets of purposes, an independent Museum. Yes, 81% of its funding itself is self generated. Paul Marden: Is it really? Yeah, yeah. I know. I would have thought the grant that you would get from London Transport might have been bigger than that.  Sam Mullins: The grant used to be much bigger proportion, but it's got smaller and smaller. That's quite deliberate. Are, you know, the more you can stand on your own two feet, the more you can actually decide which direction you're going to take those feet in. Yeah. So there's this whole raft of museums, which, you know, across the UK, which are independently governed, who get all but nothing from central government. They might do a lottery grant. Yes, once in a while, they might get some NPO funding from Ace, but it's a tiny part, you know, of the whole. And this ship, SS Great Britain is a classic, you know, example of that. So what do you do in those circumstances? You look at your assets and you you try and monetise them. That's what we did at London Transport Museum. So the museum moved to Covent Garden in 1980 because it was a far sighted move. Michael Robbins, who was on the board at the time, recognised that they should take the museum from Scion Park, which is right on the west edge, into town where people were going to be, rather than trying to drag people out to the edge of London. So we've got that fantastic location, in effect, a high street shop. So retail works really well, you know, at Covent Garden.Paul Marden: Yeah, I know. I'm a sucker for a bit of moquette design.Sam Mullins: We all love it, which is just great. So the museum developed, you know, a lot of expertise in creating products and merchandising it. We've looked at the relationship with Transport for London, and we monetised that by looking at TFL supply chain and encouraging that supply chain to support the museum. So it is possible to get the TFL commissioner to stand up at a corporate members evening and say, you know, you all do terribly well out of our contract, we'd like you to support the museum as well, please. So the corporate membership scheme at Transport Museum is bigger than any other UK museum by value, really, 60, 65 members,. So that was, you know, that that was important, another way of looking at your assets, you know, what you've got. Sometimes you're talking about monetising relationships. Sometimes it's about, you know, stuff, assets, yeah. And then in we began to run a bit short of money in the kind of middle of the teens, and we did an experimental opening of the Aldwych disused tube station on the strand, and we're amazed at the demand for tickets.Paul Marden: Really, it was that much of a surprise for you. And we all can talk. Sam Mullins: We had been doing, we've been doing some guided tours there in a sort of, slightly in a one off kind of way, for some time. And we started to kind of think, well, look, maybe should we carry on it? Paul Marden: You've got the audience that's interested.Sam Mullins: And we've got the access through TFL which, you know, took a lot of work to to convince them we weren't going to, you know, take loads of people underground and lose them or that they jump out, you know, on the Piccadilly line in the middle of the service, or something. So hidden London is the kind of another really nice way where the museum's looked at its kind of assets and it's monetised. And I don't know what this I don't know what this year is, but I think there are now tours run at 10 different sites at different times. It's worth about half a million clear to them to the museum.Paul Marden: It's amazing, and they're such brilliant events. So they've now opened up for younger kids to go. So I took my daughter and one of her friends, and they were a little bit scared when the lights got turned off at one point, but we had a whale of a time going and learning about the history of the tube, the history of the tube during the war. It was such an interesting, accessible way to get to get them interested in stuff. It was brilliant.Sam Mullins: No, it's a great programme, and it was doing well before COVID, we went into lockdown, and within three weeks, Chris Nix and the team had started to do kind of zoom virtual tours. We all are stuck at home looking at our screens and those hidden London hangouts the audience kind of gradually built yesterday TV followed with secrets of London Underground, which did four series of. Hidden London book has sold 25,000 copies in hardback, another one to come out next year, maybe.Paul Marden: And all of this is in service of the museum. So it's almost as if you're opening the museum up to the whole of London, aren't you, and making all of that space you're you. Museum where you can do things.Sam Mullins: Yeah. And, of course, the great thing about hidden London programme is it's a bit like a theatre production. We would get access to a particular site for a month or six weeks. You'd sell the tickets, you know, like mad for that venue. And then the run came to an end, and you have to, you know, the caravan moves on, and we go to, you know, go to go to a different stations. So in a sense, often it's quite hard to get people to go to an attraction unless they've got visitors staying or whatever. But actually, if there's a time limit, you just kind of have to do it, you know.Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody loves a little bit of scarcity, don't they? Sam Mullins: Should we go up on the deck? Paul Marden: That sounds like fun to me.Sam Mullins: Work our way through.Paul Marden: So Hidden London was one of the angles in order to make the museum more commercially sound. What are you taking from your time at LTM and bringing to the party here at the SS Great Britain?Sam Mullins: Well, asking similar, you know, range of questions really, about what assets do we have? Which of those are, can be, can be monetised in support of the charity? Got here, Paul, so we're, we've got the same mix as lots of middle sized museums here. There's a it's a shop, paid admission, hospitality events in the evening, cafe. You know that mix, what museums then need to do is kind of go, you know, go beyond that, really, and look at their estate or their intellectual property, or the kind of experiences they can offer, and work out whether some of that is monetisable.Paul Marden: Right? And you mentioned before that Brunel is kind of, he's the mascot of Bristol. Almost, everything in Bristol focuses on Brunel. Is there an opportunity for you to collaborate with other Brunel themed sites, the bridge or?Sam Mullins: Yeah. Well, I think probably the opportunity is to collaborate with other Bristol attractions. Because Bristol needs to. Bristol's having a hard time since COVID numbers here are nowhere near what they were pre COVID So, and I think it's the same in the city, across the city. So Andrew chief executive, is talking to other people in the city about how we can share programs, share marketing, that kind of approach.Paul Marden: Making the docks a destination, you know, you've got We the Curious. Where I was this morning, having coffee with a friend and having a mooch around. Yeah, talking about science and technology, there must be things that you can cross over. This was this war. This feels like history, but it wasn't when it was built, was it? It was absolutely the cutting edge of science and technology.Sam Mullins: Absolutely, and well, almost beyond, you know, he was Brunel was pushing, pushing what could be done. It is the biggest ship. And it's hard to think of it now, because, you know, you and I can walk from one end to the other in no time. But it was the biggest ship in the world by, you know, some way, when it was launched in 1845 so this was a bit like the Great Western Railway. It was cutting edge, cutting edge at the time, as we were talking about below. It had a propeller, radical stuff. It's got the bell, too,Paul Marden: When we were on, was it Warrior that we were on last week at the AIM conference for the first. And warrior had a propeller, but it was capable of being lifted, because the Admiralty wasn't convinced that this new fangled propeller nonsense, and they thought sail was going to lead. Sam Mullins: Yeah. Well, this ship had, you could lift a you could lift a propeller, because otherwise the propeller is a drag in the water if it's not turning over. So in its earlier configurations, it was a, it was that sort of a hybrid, where you could lift the propeller out the way, right, set full sail.Paul Marden:  Right, and, yeah, it's just, it's very pleasant out here today, isn't it? Lovely breeze compared to what it's been like the last few days. Sam Mullins: Deck has just been replaced over the winter. Paul Marden:  Oh, has it really. So say, have you got the original underneathSam Mullins: The original was little long, long gone. So what we have replaced was the deck that was put on in the in the 70s when the ship came back.Paul Marden: Right? You were talking earlier on about the cafe being one of the assets. You've done quite a lot of work recently, haven't you with the team at Elior to refurbish the cafe? What's the plan around that?Sam Mullins: Yeah, we're doing a big reinvestment. You always need to keep the offer fresh anyway, but it was time to reinvest. So the idea is to use that fantastic space on the edge of the dock. It's not very far down to where the floating harbour is really well populated with kind of restaurants and bars and an offer, we're just that 200 meters further along the dock. So perhaps to create an offer here that draws people up here, whether they visit the ship, you know, or not. So it's money, it's monetising your assets. So one of the great assets is this fabulous location on the on the dockside. So with early or we're reinvesting in the restaurant, it's going to go in the auto into after some trial openings and things, Paul, you know, it's going to have an evening offer as well as a daytime offer. And then it's been designed so the lights can go down in the evening. It becomes, you know, an evening place, rather than the museum's all day cafe, yes, and the offer, and obviously in the evenings would similarly change. And I think our ambition is that you should, you should choose this as the place to go out in the evening. Really, it's a great spot. It's a lovely, warm evening. We're going to walk along the dockside. I've booked a table and in the boardwalk, which is what we're calling it. And as you pay the bill, you notice that actually, this is associated with Asus, Great Britain. So, you know, the profit from tonight goes to help the charity, rather than it's the museum cafe. So that's the,Paul Marden: That's the pitch.Sam Mullins: That's the pitch in which we're working with our catering partners, Eli, or to deliver.Paul Marden: Andrew, your CEO and Claire from Eli, or have both kindly said that I can come back in a couple of months time and have a conversation about the restaurant. And I think it would be rude to turn them down, wouldn't it?Sam Mullins: I think you should test the menu really fully.Paul Marden: I will do my best. It's a tough job that I have. Sam Mullins: Somebody has to do this work. Paul Marden: I know, talking of tough jobs, the other thing that I saw when I was looking at the website earlier on was a press release talking about six o'clock gin as being a a partnership that you're investigating, because every museum needs its own tipple, doesn't it?Sam Mullins: Absolutely And what, you know, I think it's, I think what people want when they go to an attraction is they, they also want something of the offer to be locally sourced, completely, six o'clock gym, you know, Bristol, Bristol beers. You can't always do it, but I think, I think it's where you've got the opportunity. And Bristol's a bit of a foodie centre. There's quite a lot going on here in that respect. So, yes, of course, the museum ought to be ought to be doing that too.Paul Marden: I was very kindly invited to Big Pit over in the Welsh Valleys about 8 or 12 weeks ago for the launch, relaunch of their gift shop offering. And absolutely, at the core of what they were trying to do was because it's run by Museums Wales, they found that all of their gift shops were just a bland average of what you could get at any of the museums. None of them spoke of the individual place. So if you went to big pit, the gift shop looked the same as if you were in the centre of Cardiff, whereas now when you go you see things that are naturally of Big Pit and the surrounding areas. And I think that's so important to create a gift shop which has things that is affordable to everybody, but at the same time authentic and genuinely interesting.Sam Mullins: Yeah, I'm sure that's right. And you know I'm saying for you is for me, when I when I go somewhere, you want to come away with something, don't you? Yes, you know, you're a National Trust member and you haven't had to pay anything to get in. But you think I should be supporting the cause, you know, I want to go into that shop and then I want to, I want to buy some of the plants for my garden I just seen, you know, on the estate outside. Or I want to come away with a six o'clock gin or, you know, whatever it might be, there's and I think, I think you're more likely to buy if it's something that you know has engaged you, it's part of that story that's engaged you, right, while you're here. That's why everyone buys a guidebook and reads it afterwards.Paul Marden: Yeah, it's a reminder, isn't it, the enjoyable time that you've had? Yeah, I'm enjoying myself up on the top deck. Sam Mullins:  But should we go downstairs? The bow is a great view. Oh, let's do that. I think we might. Let's just work our way down through.Paul Marden: Take a sniff. Could you travel with these smelly passengers? Oh, no, I don't think I want to smell what it's like to be a cow on board shit. Sam Mullins: Fresh milk. Just mind yourself on these companion, ways are very steep now. This is probably where I get completely lost.Paul Marden: You know what we need? We need a very good volunteer. Don't we tell a volunteer story? COVID in the kitchen. Wow. Sam Mullins: The Gabby.Paul Marden: Generous use of scent. Sam Mullins: Yeah, food laid out pretty much based on what we know was consumed on the ship. One of the great things about the ship is people kept diaries. A lot of people kept diaries, and many have survived, right? You know exactly what it was like to be in first class or in steerage down the back.Paul Marden: And so what was the ship used for? Sam Mullins: Well, it was used, it was going to be an ocean liner right from here to New York, and it was more like the Concord of its day. It was essentially first class and second class. And then it has a founders on a bay in Northern Ireland. It's rescued, fitted out again, and then the opportunity comes take people to Australia. The Gold Rush in the 1850s. Migration to Australia becomes the big kind of business opportunity for the ships. Ships new owners. So there's more people on board that used to it applies to and fro to Australia a number of times 30 odd, 40 times. And it takes, takes passengers. It takes goods. It does bring back, brings back gold from because people were there for the gold rush. They were bringing their earnings, you know, back with them. It also brings mail, and, you know, other. Kind of car goes wool was a big cargo from. Paul Marden: Say, people down and assets back up again.Sam Mullins: People both directions. Paul Marden: Okay, yeah. How long was it taking?Sam Mullins: Well, a good trip. I think it did it in 50 odd days. Bit slower was 60 odd. And the food was like this. So it was steerage. It was probably a bit more basic. Paul Marden: Yeah, yes, I can imagine. Sam Mullins: I think we might. Here's the engines. Let's do the engines well.Paul Marden: Yes. So now we're in the engine room and, oh, it's daylight lit, actually. So you're not down in the darkest of depths, but the propeller shaft and all of the mechanism is it runs full length, full height of the ship.Sam Mullins: Yeah, it runs off from here, back to the propeller that we're looking at. Okay, down there a guy's stoking the boilers, putting coal into into the boilers, 24 hour seven, when the engines are running. Paul Marden: Yes, that's going to be a tough job, isn't it? Yeah, coal is stored in particular locations. Because that was something I learned from warrior, was the importance of making sure that you had the coal taken in the correct places, so that you didn't unbalance the ship. I mean,Sam Mullins: You right. I mean loading the ship generally had to be done really carefully so, you know, sort of balanced out and so forth. Coal is tends to be pretty low down for yes, for obvious reasons.Paul Marden: So let's talk a little bit about being a trustee. We're both trustees of charities. I was talking to somebody last week who been in the sector for a number of years, mid career, interested in becoming a trustee as a career development opportunity. What's the point of being a trustee? What's the point of the trustees to the CEO, and what's the benefit to the trustees themselves? Sam Mullins: Well, let's do that in order for someone in the mid part of their career, presumably looking to assume some kind of leadership role. At some point they're going to be dealing with a board, aren't they? Yes, they might even be doing, you know, occasional reporting to a board at that at their current role, but they certainly will be if they want to be chief executive. So getting some experience on the other side of the table to feel what it's like to be a trustee dealing with chief executive. I think he's immensely useful. I always recommended it to to my gang at the Transport Museum, and they've all been on boards of one sort or another as part of their career development.Sam Mullins: For the chief executive. What's the benefit? Well, the board, I mean, very directly, hold the chief executive to account. Yes, are you doing what we asked you to do? But also the wise chief executive recruits a board that's going to be helpful in some way or another. It's not just there to catch them out. Yeah, it's it's there to bring their experience from business, from IT, from marketing, from other museums into the business of running the place. So here we've got a range of Trustees. We've been we've recruited five or six in the last couple of years qquite deliberately to we know that a diverse board is a good board, and that's diverse in the sense not just a background, but of education, retired, still, still at work, young, old, male, female, you know, you name in.Paul Marden: In all of the directionsSam Mullins:  Yeah. So a diverse board makes better decisions than one that just does group think all the time. It's, you know, it's a truism, isn't it? I think we all kind of, we all understand and understand that now and then, for the trustee, you know, for me, I particularly last couple of years, when the organization has been through huge changes, it's been really interesting to deploy my prior experience, particularly in governance, because governance is what it all comes down to in an organisation. You do learn over the course of your career to deploy that on behalf, you know, this is a great organisation, the story of Brunel and the ship and and, you know, his influence on the railways. And I travel down on the Great Western railways, yeah, the influence of Brunel is, you know, is enormous. It's a fantastic story. It's inspiring. So who wouldn't want to join? You know what in 2005 was the Museum of the year? Yes, I think we'll just go back there where we came. Otherwise, I never found my way.Paul Marden: Back through the kitchen. Sam Mullins: Back through the kitchen. It looks like stew is on the menu tonight. You've seen me at the mobile the rat.Paul Marden: And also the cat up on the shelf. He's not paying a lot of attention to the ratSam Mullins: Back on deck. Paul Marden: Wonderful. Yeah. So the other great endeavor that you've embarked on is writing, writing a book. Tell us a little bit about the book.Sam Mullins: Yeah, I've written a history of transport in London and its influence on London since 2000 since the mayoralty, elected mayoralty was, was started, you know, I was very lucky when I was running the museum where I had kind of one foot in TfL and one foot out. I knew lots of people. I was there for a long time, yes, so it was, it was easy to interview about 70 of them.Paul Marden: Right? I guess you've built trust levels, haven't you? Yeah, I don't mean that you don't look like a journalist walking in from the outside with an ax to grind. Sam Mullins: And I'm not going to kind of screw them to the Evening Standard, you know, tomorrow. So it's a book based on interviews, oral reminiscences. It's very much their story. So it's big chunks of their accounts of, you know, the big events in London. So what was it like to be in the network control room on the seventh of July, 2005 when the bombs went off? What was it like to be looking out for congestion charge the day it started? Yep. What was it like to kind of manage the Olympics?Paul Marden: You know? So you're mentioning these things. And so I was 10 years at British Airways. I was an IT project manager, but as well, I was a member of the emergency planning team. Yeah. So I got involved in the response to September the 11th. I got involved in some of the engagement around seven, seven, there's seminal moments, and I can, I can vividly remember myself being there at that time. But similarly, I can remember being there when we won the Olympics, and we were all sat in the staff canteen waiting to hear whether we'd won the Olympics, and the roar that erupted. There's so many of those things that have happened in the last 25 years where, you know, you've got, it's recent history, but it's real interesting events that have occurred that you can tell stories of.Sam Mullins: Yeah. So what I wanted to get in the book was a kind of sense of what it was like to be, really at the heart of those, those stories. And there are, you know, there are, there are people in TfL who made those big things happen? Yes, it's not a big, clumsy bureaucracy. It's a place where really innovative leadership was being exercised all the way through that 25 years. Yes, so it runs up to COVID, and what was it like when COVID struck? So the book's called Every Journey Matters, and it comes out in November.Paul Marden: Amazing, amazing. So we have, we've left the insides of the ship, and we are now under, what's this part of the ship? Sam Mullins: We're under the bow. There we go, and a bow spread that gets above our heads. So again, you've got this great, hulking, cast iron, black hull, beautifully shaped at the bow. Look the way it kind of tapers in and it tapers in and out.Paul Marden: It's a very three dimensional, isn't it? The curve is, is in every direction. Sam Mullins: Yeah,it's a great, great shape. So it's my sort of, I think it's my favourite spot. I like coming to look at this, because this is the kind of, this is the business, yeah, of the ship.Paul Marden: What have we got running along the front here? These these images in in gold.Sam Mullins: This is a figurehead with Victoria's Coat of Arms only sua Kim Ali points on top with it, with a lion and a unicorn.Paul Marden: It's a really, it's not a view that many people would have ever seen, but it is such an impressive view here looking up, yeah, very, very cool. And to stand here on the on the edge of the dry dock. Sam Mullins: Dry Docks in to our right, and the floating harbor is out to our left. Yeah.Paul Marden: And much going on on that it's busy today, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yeah, it's good. Paul Marden: So we've done full loop, haven't we? I mean, it has been a whistle stop tour that you've taken me on, but I've loved every moment of this. We always ask our guests a difficult question. Well, for some it's a difficult question, a book recommendation, which, as we agreed over lunch, cannot be your own book. I don't think, I think it's a little unfair Sam Mullins: Or anything I've ever written before.Paul Marden: Yes, slightly self serving, but yeah.Sam Mullins: It would be, wouldn't it look the first thing that comes to mind is, I've actually been reading my way through Mick Herron's Slow Horses series, okay, which I'm a big fan of detective fiction. I love Ian Rankin's Rebus. Okay, I read through Rebus endlessly when I want something just to escape into the sloughhouse series Slow Horses is really good, and the books all have a sort of similar kind of momentum to them. Something weird happens in the first few chapters, which seems very inconsequential and. Suddenly it turns into this kind of roller coaster. Will they? Won't they? You know, ending, which is just great. So I recommend Mick Herron's series. That's that's been the best, not best, fiction I've read in a long time.Paul Marden: You know, I think there's something, there's something nice, something comforting, about reading a series of books where the way the book is structured is very similar. You can, you can sit down and you know what's going to happen, but, but there's something interesting, and it's, it's easy. Sam Mullins: It's like putting on a pair of old slippers. Oh, I'm comfortable with this. Just lead me along. You know, that's what, that's what I want. I enjoy that immensely.Paul Marden: And should we be? Should we be inviting our listeners to the first book in the series, or do they need to start once, once he's got his, got his, found his way? Sam Mullins: Well, some people would have seen the television adaptation already. Well, that will have spoilt the book for them. Gary Oldman is Jackson lamb, who's the lead character, okay, but if you haven't, or you just like a damn good read, then you start with the first one, which I think is called Sloughhouse. They're all self contained, but you can work your way through them. Paul Marden: Well, that sounds very good. So listeners, if you'd like a copy of Sam's book, not Sam's book, Sam's book recommendation, then head over to Bluesky and repost the show notice and say, I want a copy of Sam's book, and the first one of you lovely listeners that does that will get a copy sent to you by Wenalyn. Sam This has been delightful. I hope listeners have enjoyed this as much as I have. This is our first time having a @skipthequeue in real life, where we wandered around the attraction itself and hopefully narrated our way bringing this amazing attraction to life. I've really enjoyed it. I can now say that as a West Country lad, I have actually been to the SS Great Britain. Last thing to say for visitor, for listeners, we are currently midway through the Rubber Cheese Annual Survey of visitor attraction websites. Paul Marden: If you look after an attraction website and you'd like to share some information about what you do, we are gathering all of that data together to produce a report that helps people to understand what good looks like for an attraction website. This is our fourth year. Listeners that are interested, head over to RubberCheese.com/survey, and you can find out a little bit more about the survey and some of the some of the findings from the past and what we're looking for for this year. Sam, thank you so very much.Sam Mullins: Enjoyed it too. It's always good to rabbit on about what you do every day of the week, and being here and part of this really great organisation is huge privilege.Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others to find us. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts from this episode and more over on our website, skipthequeue fm. The 2025 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsTake the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

What if the key to transforming entrepreneurship lies in who gets to be an investor? In this episode of The Angel Next Door Podcast, host Marcia Dawood invites us to consider the power of opening up investment opportunities to more women and how it could change the face of business leadership.Our guest, Patricia Lizarraga, is a trailblazing finance expert who created the Hypatia Women CEO ETF (WCEO ETF) after realizing the unique strengths women bring to executive roles. Her fund allows anyone—with as little as $30—to invest in every U.S. public company run by a woman CEO, breaking down traditional barriers and shifting perceptions of who can be an investor.Listeners will gain insights into how the WCEO ETF is outperforming industry benchmarks and why initiatives like the “100 Shares for Women” campaign are critical to advancing gender equity. This episode is essential listening for anyone curious about making an impact through investing, expanding their financial confidence, or supporting more women at the helm of big business. To get the latest from Patricia Lizarraga, you can follow her below!https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricializarraga/https://www.hypatianation.com Sign up for Marcia's newsletter to receive tips and the latest on Angel Investing!Website: www.marciadawood.comLearn more about the documentary Show Her the Money: www.showherthemoneymovie.comAnd don't forget to follow us wherever you are!Apple Podcasts: https://pod.link/1586445642.appleSpotify: https://pod.link/1586445642.spotifyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/angel-next-door-podcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelnextdoorpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marciadawood

In this solo episode, I recap the latest 5 Things (good vibes in DEI) in just 15 minutes. This week I shared about boardroom shakeup, flag-ban hackery, Lyft's silver glow-up, Adidas's inclusive kicks, and more!Here are this week's good vibes:Boardroom Monopoly BreaksCities Outsmart Flag Bans with PrideLyft Silver: Aging in StyleLush Goes Sensory-Friendly, All Are WelcomeKicks Tailored for Every BodyGood Vibes to Go: In the spirit of sharing what brings me joy, watch Atsuko Okatsuka's comedy special The Intruder on MAX before her next special debuts in a few weeks. Read the Stories.Subscribe to the 5 Things newsletter.Watch the show on YouTube. Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes in DEI every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

9:05 – 9:22 (15mins) Chris Cooper, Serenity Wealth Management 9:25 – 9:37 (12mins) Weekly Feature: “FAKE NEWS!!” 9:41 – 9:56 (15mins) Ethan Peck NCPPR - Deputy Director FEP @ethanbpeckTopic: Bitcoin(FEP) and the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment, convinced the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to vacate the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s approval of Nasdaq’s board diversity rules, arguing that the SEC lacked statutory authority to do so.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

9:05 – 9:22 (15mins) Chris Cooper, Serenity Wealth Management 9:25 – 9:37 (12mins) Weekly Feature: “FAKE NEWS!!” 9:41 – 9:56 (15mins) Ethan Peck NCPPR - Deputy Director FEP @ethanbpeckTopic: Bitcoin(FEP) and the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment, convinced the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to vacate the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s approval of Nasdaq’s board diversity rules, arguing that the SEC lacked statutory authority to do so.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

(0:00) Intro(3:27) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.(4: 14) Start of interview. (4:56) Drew Shagrin's origin story.(8:12) David Chekroun's origin story.(14:15) About the Institute of Corporate Governance at ESCP Business School, based in Paris.(19:13) The focus of ICG between students, alumni, execs, directors, investors, state representatives, judiciary, and regulators.(24:57) Corporate purpose under French law: changed in 2019 to explicitly take into consideration E&S issues.(27:53) Comparing ESG trends from France & EU. The G is rooted in each member state, but E&S falls under the EU green deal.(33:50) On board diversity: differences between US, France & EU. Sources: Copé Zimmermann Law (2011), Gender Equality Index (2018): on gender pay gaps, and Rixain Act (2021).(41:32) On State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and the role of the state in corporate governance.(45:46) On the role of the state in promoting tech industry (startups and scale ups). BPI.(48:55) On employee representation in the boardroom. In France, since 2013.(54:19) On Entreprise à Mission structures and PBCs, balancing profit with social responsibility (in AI). The Danone case.(58:24) Challenges of corporate governance in France: share value, board composition, and stewardship. AFEP and MEDEF.(50:38) What are the 1-3 books that have greatly influenced your life: David:The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig  (1942)Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language by Eva Hoffman (1989)The Anatomy of Corporate Law by Reiner Kraakman (2004)Drew:How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen (2012)(1:03:48) Who were their mentors, and what they learned from them.(1:06:11) Quotes they think of often or live their life by.(1:07:22) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that they love.(1:08:20) The living person they most admire. You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

"The sorts of ways women's characteristics and qualities are described within organisations are actually at the forefront of the sorts of characteristics and qualities that we want in the leaders of our businesses." - Carol Schwartz AO Carol Schwartz AO, member of the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia and Chair of Equity Trustees; the Women's Leadership Institute Australia; the Climate Council and Our Community gives her assessment of the state of diversity in the boardroom in 2024, and the challenge for the future. _____________ Follow Podcast Host ⁠⁠Richard Conway⁠⁠ on LinkedIn Follow ⁠⁠boardcycle⁠⁠ on LinkedIn Visit the ⁠⁠boardcycle website

Did you know that corporations that have diverse Board members have been shown to be more profitable and successful than those with less diverse Boards? So how do you get more women on these Boards?In this episode of Associations Thrive, host Joanna Pineda interviews Shawn Kaminski, Executive Director of DirectWomen. Shawn discusses:DirectWomen's mission to increase the representation of women lawyers on corporate boards.How DirectWomen prepares women lawyers for board service through an annual board institute.How DirectWomen serves as a resource for companies looking for diverse candidates for their Boards.How companies with more diverse boards are shown to be more profitable and successful than those without.How there's both a moral and business case for having diverse voices and representation in corporate boardrooms.Her personal journey, going from the American Bar Association, a large well supported organization, to DirectWomen, a smaller nonprofit.DirectWomen's selective Board Institute program, which only accepts a small number of applicants each year. The small cohort size is intentional, so that DirectWomen can provide personalized attention to ensure participants' success.DirectWomen's international expansion, starting with high attendance events in London.How DirectWomen will ring the New York Stock Exchange Bell on October 18th to celebrate reaching their 200th board seat milestone.References:DirectWomen's websiteMusic from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/tobias-voigt/nexusLicense code: M2POPMBVFCE0RIPZ

Austin Hankwitz and Katie Perry spoke with e.l.f. Cosmetics CEO Tarang Amin about the company's impressive stock performance and innovative marketing strategies. They dive into e.l.f.'s history, expansion into skincare, and commitment to affordability and quality. The episode highlights the company's diversity initiatives, inclusive culture, and strategic use of data, concluding with Tarang sharing his entrepreneurial roots and core business lessons. (P.S. You will learn all about Austin's skincare routine.) $ELF 00:00 START 01:07 The Rise of e.l.f. Cosmetics 03:47 Balancing Quality and Affordability 05:17 Influencer and Community Engagement 09:18 Innovative Marketing Strategies 18:35 Retail Expansion and Future Growth 20:16 Proactive SKU Management 21:06 Notorium Acquisition and Expansion 23:18 Skincare Routines and Product Recommendations 25:54 Leveraging Data for Business Strategy 28:40 Board Diversity and Corporate Values 35:41 Entrepreneurial Lessons from Immigrant Roots After Earnings is brought to you by Stakeholder Labs and Morning Brew.  For more go to https://www.afterearnings.com Follow Us  X: https://twitter.com/AfterEarnings TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@AfterEarnings Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afterearnin... Reach Out  Email: afterearnings@morningbrew.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael McLaren argues that the ASX Corporate Governance Council's proposal for expanded diversity reporting may overshadow merit-based board appointments.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NCLA has filed a brief urging the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to overturn Nasdaq's "Board Diversity Rules," which the SEC implemented without statutory authority. These rules require Nasdaq-listed companies to meet gender, race, and sexual orientation quotas for their boards or explain why, under threat of delisting. Additionally, the SEC will provide lists of candidates to companies unable to meet these quotas. A Fifth Circuit panel had upheld these rules, but the en banc court has agreed to rehear the case. The 1934 Securities and Exchange Act restricts the SEC to roles ensuring fair markets, investor protection, and efficient capital formation, which the NCLA argues the SEC has exceeded. Mark, Vec, and Jenin are joined by NCLA's Peggy Little to discuss the recent oral argument in the case. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're in the midst of unprecedented times, where corporations prioritize short-term profits over the long-term health of their organizations, clients, and employees. Wage and wealth gaps grow ever-larger, and a few billionaires hoard an obscene amount of money while more and more people struggle just to get by. The upcoming book Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy, which my guest June Carbone co-authored with Naomi Cahn and Nancy Levit, explores the history, politics, and legality of how we got to where we are today, the impact this system has on women and the quest for gender equality, and the efforts being made to reverse these trends. Explore what past and present corporate research can teach us about where we're headed:Where did our winner-take-all economy come from?How does this profits-first, people-last approach impact women?What is the triple bind befalling women leaders today?How do we start rebuilding a positive-sum economic culture of collectivism?Related Links:Pre-order ‘Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy' - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fair-shake-naomi-cahn/1141652296?ean=9781982115128Banks with More Women on Their Boards Commit Less Fraud - https://hbr.org/2021/05/banks-with-more-women-on-their-boards-commit-less-fraudThe Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change to AdoptListing Rules Related to Board Diversity - https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-nasdaq-2020-081/srnasdaq2020081-8186013-227180.pdfConnect with June online - https://law.umn.edu/profiles/june-carboneEpisode 440: The Problem with Self-Help - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode440Episode 444: Are Pay Transparency Laws Working? - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode444Take Action with Bossed Up - https://www.bossedup.org/takeactionBossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

NCLA has filed an opening brief in National Center for Public Policy Research v. SEC urging the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to set aside Nasdaq's unconstitutional “Board Diversity Rules,” which SEC promulgated without statutory authority. These Rules impose gender, race and sexual orientation quotas on corporate board membership for Nasdaq-listed companies. Further, the Rules compel companies that fail to meet their board seat quotas to explain why or face involuntary delisting from the stock exchange. A Fifth Circuit panel had upheld the Board Diversity Rules, but the en banc court granted NCLA's request to rehear the case. In this episode, Mark, Vec, and Jenin are joined by NCLA's Peggy Little to discuss the case. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Struck by the slow progress on gender equality in her industry, Nasrine co-founded the Hong Kong Board Directors Investor's Initiative in 2018 with the goal of influencing the investor/investee sphere to act on the important topic of board diversity. She is passionate about driving change at the top levels in Hong Kong when it comes to board diversity, using both her day job to highlight the corporate governance aspects of board diversity, as well as the Investor's Initiative to drive the conversation at the wider level. Listen or watch our CEO Janet Ledger interview Nasrine about:

The Senate is considering a requirement for charities to report on board diversity. Reporter Meagan Gillmore fills you in on the story. From the March 5, 2024, episode.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has agreed to an en banc rehearing of NCLA's National Center for Public Policy Research v. SEC lawsuit challenging “Board Diversity Rules” that SEC promulgated without statutory authority. These rules impose race, gender, and sexual orientation quotas on corporate board membership for companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, along with compelling corporate speech to explain any quota missed.   Mark is joined by Senior Litigation Counsel Peggy Little to discuss National Center for Public Policy Research v. SEC and the upcoming argument in which NCLA will urge the Fifth Circuit to set these unlawful rules aside.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Securities and Exchange Commission-approved “Board Diversity Rules” impose race, gender and sexual orientation-based quotas on the corporate boards of companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. NCLA has petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for en banc rehearing of its National Center for Public Policy Research v. SEC lawsuit against these rules, including one in which SEC furnishes lists of quota-satisfying names to companies unable to meet such quotas on their own. These rules must be set aside, as SEC has no statutory authority to promulgate them. Peggy talks about NCLA's petition for review in NCPPR v. SEC.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In National Center for Public Policy Research v. SEC, NCLA is challenging unauthorized SEC Rules concerning the race, gender, and sexual preference of members of corporate boards of directors for Nasdaq-listed companies. Mark, Vec and NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel Peggy Little discuss a Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel's denial of NCLA's petition for review in National Center for Public Policy Research v. SEC. NCLA plans to petition for a Fifth Circuit en banc review.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0:00 -- Intro.1:21-- About this podcast's sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.2:17 -- Start of interview.2:49 -- Brian's "origin story." He founded a startup that sold cars online in the dot com era (CarOrder) based out of Austin TX. He later worked at McKinsey & Co. From there he moved to Diligent as CEO.6:17 -- The history, mission and current focus of Diligent Corporation. "The role of governance oversight has become much more of an exercise in risk management."11:48 -- About their new product: The Diligent One Platform.14:42 -- About his book Governance in the Digital Age. A Guide for the Modern Corporate Board Director (co-authored with Dottie Schindlinger.)17:02  -- On ESG and its political backlash. On stakeholders (BRT Restatement of the purpose of the corporation, 2019). "If you do well for your stakeholders, you're going to do well for your shareholders over a long period of time."20:00 -- How to think about ESG: "The companies that do it the right way, tie it back to their strategy." "In the US, [ESG] is much more tied to climate."23:32 -- His experience working with and serving on a private equity backed company. Distinctions with public company boards. "In PE-backed boards, you get to experience radical transparency around data and information with your board." [reference on Netflix case study by Stanford GSB]. "The longer time nature and longer term hold period of private investors can set the right mindset of management and the company around long term."29:36 -- On international distinctions in corporate governance, and running global companies. "Half our clients are located outside of the US and Canada, and more than half of our employees are located outside of US/Canada."31:47 -- On geopolitical risks, and how boards should address the rapidly changing landscape.34:16 -- On board composition: 1) They should look like customers or employees or some combination of the two, 2) technology fluency of the board should increase. How to tackle board diversity. "I look for board members who can help me see things that I'm not seeing." (achieved through directors with different backgrounds)38:05 -- Book that has greatly influenced his life: Moneyball by Michael Lewis (2003)39:09 -- His mentors, and what he learned from them: a few different partners at McKinsey & Co.40:14 -- Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by: "People won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel." by Maya Angelou.41:13 -- An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves: he gets up super early (4am or earlier).43:00 -- The living person he most admires: his mother.Brian Stafford is the Chief Executive Officer at Diligent, a leading GRC SaaS company providing solutions across governance, risk and compliance.__This podcast is sponsored by the American College of Governance Counsel.__ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

0:00 -- Intro.1:10 -- About new podcast sponsor American College of Governance Counsel.2:28 -- Start of interview.3:17 -- Joyce's "origin story" 5:22 -- Joyce's academic focus and executive career before joining boards of directors.8:12 -- On her board journey. "It began with non-profit board work." On serving in different types of boards. "They all offered an opportunity to collaborate with board colleagues, very smart people - learning from them, with a clear focus on growth of the institutions through innovation and being intentional about them."11:15 -- On the state of agtech. 13:54 -- Her experience serving on the board of Sunrise Banks, and more generally on the board of a Certified B Corporation.19:54 -- On the ESG and DEI backlash. "Politics is part of the system in which corporations operate."25:51 -- Her take on the current state of board diversity.33:43 -- Opportunities in Africa. 39:19 -- On the current geopolitical landscape, particularly with the U.S. decoupling/de-risking from China. Impact on global supply chains. "Near shoring, and on-shoring are critical (instead of investing in long supply chains)."45:33 -- How should corporate directors approach AI technologies.50:08 -- Book that has greatly influenced her life: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937)51:38 -- Her mentors, and what she learned from them: her mother, dad and Robert "Bob" Bucklin (her former boss at Rabobank International).53:45 -- Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "There is no failure, only lessons."54:40 -- An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves: white water rafting and classical music.Joyce Cacho is an experienced executive and director, and currently serves as Board Chair of Sistema.bio.__This podcast is sponsored by the American College of Governance Counsel.__ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

0:00 -- Intro.1:43 -- Start of interview.2:11 -- Suzanne's "origin story" "One of my proudest jobs was working with the NJ Pandemic Relief Fund"14:12 -- Joining the NYSE Board Diversity Initiative. *reference to Chief ("the only private membership network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders")15:22 -- Three key NYSE ESG Initiatives:The NYSE Sustainability Advisory Council (tackling the "E" in ESG)The NYSE/Syndio collaboration (tackling the "S" in ESG)The NYSE Advisory Board Council (tackling the "G" in ESG). It was created to help identify and place diverse candidates to serve on boards (*it has placed 38 board candidates, as of the date of this recording).Council: 25 members ("it launched in 2019 with 16 CEOs of the NYSE")Candidates: ~700 CEO vetted candidates.Companies: all ~2,400 NYSE listed companies + private PE/VC backed companies.25:04 -- On placing directors on cross-listed (international) companies. "Over 15% of our candidates are international"26:39 -- On the impact of SB-826, AB-979 and other board diversity efforts. "Intentionality [on this topic] works"28:47 -- On the ESG and DEI backlash. "ESG really suffers from a branding problem."31:46 -- Board dynamics, age and generational shifts in the boardroom. "The avg age of directors has remained at 64 years old."33:57 -- On the evolution and trends in board diversity. On the "pipeline falacy."36:33-- Current state of capital markets. History of the NYSE.40:27 -- Other corporate governance trends: term limits, board evaluations ("it's what you do with it afterwards"), global supply chain, green energy transition and cybersecurity expertise. *reference to E107 with David Larcker and Brian Tayan46:00 -- Books that have greatly influenced her life: Don Quijote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605 and 1615)Start with Why by Simon Sinek (2009)47:54 -- Her mentors, and what she learned from them: "it's more of a collective with other women."48:41 -- Quotes she thinks of often or lives her life by: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it's the courage to carry on that counts." Winston Churchill. 49:18 -- An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves: "I love to research obscure dogs."51:35 -- The living person she most admires: Jimmy Carter.Suzanne Brown currently leads the NYSE's effort to place more diverse candidates on corporate and private company boards. __ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Women and BIPOC representation in business boardrooms is better than it's ever been, but there is still quite a lot of work to do. That's the story in a new report from Deloitte and the Alliance for Board Diversity called "Missing Pieces". It takes a closer look at diversity at Fortune 500 companies, specifically in their leadership, on both a state and national level. Nichole speaks with Jess Ackerman, an Audit Readiness Leader at Deloitte, about the survey and its findings.

In this episode of ESG Unlocked, host Pamela Mutumwa welcomes ISS Corporate Solutions' Pablo Hijano (Vice President, EMEA/APAC Advisory) and Valeriano Saucedo (Vice President, Americas Advisory) to discuss global trends in executive compensation and board composition. In this insightful conversation, Pablo and Val identify regional similarities and differences across an array of emerging governance themes, including pay design reporting requirements, incorporating ESG metrics in incentive planning, shifts in demand for specific board skill sets, board gender diversity disclosure standards, and more. Host: Pamela MutumwaGuests: Pablo Hijano and Valeriano Saucedo

0:00 -- Intro.1:34 -- Start of interview.2:28 -- Mary's "origin story". About her legal career at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. On the influence of Toni Rembe on her board career.  9:13 -- On her transition to a board career, and lawyers as corporate directors. "Boards have prejudice against putting lawyers on boards. I think that is wrong and extremely short sighted [But I think we are starting to see a real trend of more lawyers on boards.]" The ABA and Catalyst's DirectWomen Initiative (its mission is to increase the representation of women lawyers on corporate boards.)11:57 -- On the evolution of gender diversity at law firms. "I see progress, but probably not as fast as the most enlightened corporate environments."13:49 -- On boardroom diversity. "In America we have a cultural norm against quotas." 19:01 -- On the evolution of shareholder engagement and the empowerment of corporate directors.22:24 -- On the shareholder and stakeholder governance debate [BRT restatement of the purpose of the corporation 2019] "I've always thought that this was a little bit of a circular tempest in a teapot because in my mind companies need to be run for the medium to long-term interest of the shareholders."24:23 -- On ESG and the latest "anti-ESG" trend.25:45 -- How should [technology company] boards approach the current downturn.29:46 -- On supervisory boards in Europe and the advantages (flexibility) of US corporate governance standards.32:27 -- On tech companies staying private or going public. "There is a fair legitimate bias against going public now."  "We've got to be clear on whether some of our regulation of public markets is worth the candle." "[But] the American economy [to be the dominant force in the world] needs both the public and private markets."36:23 -- On private equity boards. [For extra background, see Boards 3.0 by Profs Gilson and Gordon]40:07 -- On founder-led companies and the practice of dual-class share structures.41:35 -- Her pitch for more lawyers on boards: "Lawyers are often phenomenal directors." "A good strategic lawyer should be a requirement on every board [but that's not how the current board world sees it]."44:47 - What books have greatly influenced your life: Good to Great, by Jim Collins (2001)Start Where You Are, by Pema Chodron (2001)46:01 - Who were your mentors, and what did you learn from them?Her mother and sister.Toni RembeMargaret Gill46:43 -  Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by? "Don't believe your thoughts until you really look at them."46:53 - An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves: meditation (she's been doing it for 40 years)47:46 - The living person she most admires: "A group: the women who were first into their professions"Mary Cranston is a seasoned corporate director and attorney. She is the retired CEO and Chair Emeritus of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. As CEO from 1999 to 2006, she expanded PWSP internationally, doubling its size and profitability. She currently serves as a director of Visa, The Chemours Company and TPG. She previously served on the public boards of MyoKardia and McAfee Corp. In addition, she serves or has served on several private and non-profit boards. __ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

0:00 -- Intro.2:09 -- Start of interview.2:54 -- Susan's "origin story". 4:18 -- Stephen's "origin story". 6:24 -- The origin and mission of the KPMG Board Leadership Center. It started with the Audit Committee Institute in 1999.12:12 -- The progress on board diversity and onboarding insights for new directors. Example: Board Readiness Program from LCDA. "Two important elements for new directors to think about: 1) to deeply understand the role of the board and how that differs from management, and 2) to deeply understand what the company needs and what is the value that the director adds that no one else either on board or management is currently providing."14:07 -- The path to the board and director performance. In Fortune 500 companies and beyond.19:19 -- Board oversight on climate change. In this NACD's Governance Challenges report, Susan Angele offers areas for focus and questions to consider as boards enhance their governance to integrate climate change issues into risk, strategy, culture, values, and relationships with stakeholders.24:54 -- On whether "climate change" experts will be recruited for corporate boards.27:53 -- Lessons from the 2022 Proxy Season on ESG. To help boards understand and shape the total impact of the company's strategy and operations externally—on the environment, the company's consumers and employees, the communities in which it operates, and other stakeholders—and internally, on the company's performance, KPMG offers a five-part framework: 1) Level Setting, 2) Assessment, 3) Integration, 4) Stakeholder Communications, and 5) Board Oversight.31:48 -- On the "anti-ESG" trend. "You have to recognize the political play on this."36:15 -- How should CEOs and boards approach the "S" in ESG, particularly regarding employee and social matters. From Edelman data: "Employees really want to be engaged in these issues."42:38  -- On BlackRock (and other institutional investors) stating that a new era of “shareholder democracy” is coming with technology increasing voting power and expanding voting choice for investors (see BlackRock's Voting Choice). Thoughts on this trend: "this is an issue of concentration of power." The proposed Investor Democracy is Expected (Index) Act.48:27  -- Final thoughts and recommendations for current and aspiring directors: "The job of a director is tougher than it was 20 years ago, but what we know from evidence today is that it is still a pretty good and important job (people are not leaving it)."50:18 - What are the 1-3 books that have greatly influenced your life: Stephen:I Came As A Shadow, Autobiography of John Thompson with Jesse Washington (2020)The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw (2020)Susan:Unsafe at Any Speed, by Ralph Nader (1965)The Silent Spring, by Rachel Carlson (1962)The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories.53:44 - Who were your mentors, and what did you learn from them?Stephen: Mom & Dad.Susan: her corporate governance mentor, Ann Mulé (ex corporate secretary at Sonoco, now at the University of Delaware).54:50 - Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by? Stephen: "I always tell directors that one of the most powerful questions that you can ask is 'why' and 'how do you know'." [to practice cooperative skepticism]Susan: "The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed" [William Gibson, The Economist 2003] "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women" [Madeleine Albright]56:03 - An unusual habit or an absurd thing that they love: Stephen: College sports.Susan: British royalty.58:12 - The living person they most admire:Stephen: his wife.Susan: Volodymyr ZelenskySusan Angele and Stephen Brown are Senior Advisors of the KPMG Board Leadership Center.__ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

1Fifth Circuit Strikes Down CFPB Funding MethodIn the case of Community Financial Services Association of America v. CFPB, three judges onthe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit have ruled that the CFPB's funding methodviolates the Constitution's structural separation of powers. The judges also invalidated part of theCFPB's 2017 payday lending rule.Vec reviews the Fifth Circuit ruling. 2New NCLA Video on Nasdaq's Board Diversity RulesThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq's listing rules requiring mostcompanies in the stock exchange to meet quotas for race, gender, and sexual preference incorporate board membership. A new video released by NCLA explains why these BoardDiversity Rules fall outside of the agency's regulatory authority.Mark and Vec discuss NCLA's recent video concerning Nasdaq's Board Diversity Rules.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NTD Business News- 9/6/2022 1. California Power Prices Soar to Highest in 2 Years 2. California ‘Fast Food Council' to Regulate Industry 3. Showdown Over Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule 4. Think Tank on Nasdaq Diversity Rule 5. Bed Bath & Beyond Names Interim CFO

3 NCLA's Fifth Circuit Oral Argument in Case Challenging Nasdaq Board Diversity RulesNCLA's Peggy Little gives highlights of her Fifth Circuit oral argument in the lawsuit, NationalCenter for Public Policy Research v. SEC. NCLA client, National Center for Public Policy Research, argues that SEC has no power to approve Nasdaq's new Board Diversity Rulesbecause the rules have nothing to do with fraud or honest markets.Can Magistrate Judges Sign Search Warrants?Vec and Mark debate whether magistrate judges can sign search warrants.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Struggling companies are more likely to experience a decrease in diversity on their boards, a study found

Today on the Take on Board podcast, I'm speaking with Pauline Vamos about the 2021 Board Diversity Index recently released by the Governance Institute of Australia.Pauline Vamos, is deeply experienced in broad financial services in the listed, commercial and not for profit space as a non-executive director and Chair. She is currently Chair of Interaction Disability Services Limited, Governance Institute of Australia and Moneytech Group Ltd as well as a NED of the Banking and Finance Oath (BFO), Chief Executive Women and Mercer Superannuation Australia Limited.Pauline is a recognised and proven leader, communicator and stakeholder manager with both local and overseas experience with expertise in insurance, superannuation, funds management, distribution, technology, non financial risk, strategy, governance, regulation, public policy and safe harbour.I'm speaking to her today in her role as Chair of the Governance Institute of Australia, who co-authored the 2021 Board Diversity Index.From this episode: Board Diversity Index 2022 - Governance Institute of Australia and Watermark Search InternationalPauline Vamos on linkedIn and TwitterYou might want to:Join the Take on Board Facebook communityJoin the Take on Board LinkedIn communityFollow along on TwitterWork with meJoin the Take on Board: Kickstarter group programJoin the Take on Board: Accelerator group programFind out more about meContact me See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Decision Vision Episode 171: Should I Align My Company with a Political Position? – An Interview with Peter Baron, Carabiner Communications If a company chooses to align with a political position, how does it impact revenue? Do consumers care more about their products than their politics? Peter Baron, CEO of Carabiner Communications, and host Mike […] The post

Decision Vision Episode 171: Should I Align My Company with a Political Position? – An Interview with Peter Baron, Carabiner Communications If a company chooses to align with a political position, how does it impact revenue? Do consumers care more about their products than their politics? Peter Baron, CEO of Carabiner Communications, and host Mike […]

Welcome to #WorkforceWednesday, a quick-browse rundown featuring Employment Law This Week® and other resources. This week: Return-to-Work Behavior Policies and Training, U.S. Soccer's Landmark Equal Pay Agreement, Board Diversity in California. Visit our site for this week's Other Highlights and links: https://www.ebglaw.com/eltw258. Subscribe to #WorkforceWednesday - https://www.ebglaw.com/subscribe/. Visit http://www.EmploymentLawThisWeek.com. The EMPLOYMENT LAW THIS WEEK® and DIAGNOSING HEALTH CARE podcasts are presented by Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. All rights are reserved. This audio recording includes information about legal issues and legal developments.  Such materials are for informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current legal developments. These informational materials are not intended, and should not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances, and these materials are not a substitute for the advice of competent counsel. The content reflects the personal views and opinions of the participants. No attorney-client relationship has been created by this audio recording. This audio recording may be considered attorney advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. The determination of the need for legal services and the choice of a lawyer are extremely important decisions and should not be based solely upon advertisements or self-proclaimed expertise. No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

In this episode, Terry Johnson, an attorney who advises management and board members of both private and public companies, talks about what clients are facing regarding ESG risk identification and management, and how boards are responding to the growing push back against mandated board diversity and stakeholder capitalism.   Thanks for listening! We love our listeners! Drop us a line or give us guest suggestions here. Bio Terry is a corporate and securities partner at the law firm of Arnold & Porter.  She acts as a trusted advisor to the C suite, boards of directors and board members. In her corporate governance work, she advises both public and private company boards and management on board diversity and stakeholder capitalism. Among other areas, her practice often involves counseling management and boards about ESG risk management, including disclosure and liability issues.  She often speaks and writes about corporate governance and in particular, board diversity, including the California board diversity legislation and NASDAQ's listing rules, and she has authored articles in the Financial Times regarding the effectiveness of quotas in achieving board diversity and the treatment of climate change as a systematic risk to global finance. Terry's experience also includes representing wineries and winery owners, and family-owned companies in a variety of industries. She has been recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the Top 100 Women Lawyers in California and has been included in Best Lawyers in America since 2014.  In 2022 Terry was selected by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the 13 OUTstanding Voices paving the way for LGBTQ equality in the workplace in its annual Business of Pride awards.  Terry is currently the Treasurer of the Bar Association of San Francisco, in line to assume the presidency in 2024.   Links   Caught in the Culture Wars Crossfire: Board Diversity Initiatives Under Attack   SEC Approves Nasdaq Diversity Proposal   Public shaming will not solve the lack of diversity on corporate boards   Treat Climate Change as a Systemic Risk to Global Finance   Quotes   Board Diversity We are now starting to see a pushback on ESG generally and board diversity in particular as witnessed by the challenges to the California legislation regarding board diversity.  Conservative groups are also bringing claims in the Fifth Circuit in Texas against NASDAQ's board diversity listing rule.   The NASDAQ rule is not mandatory, it's not a quota, it's a comply or disclose and explain why. Essentially, you're not required to put more diverse directors on the board, you just have to tell people why you haven't, but in today's world, knowing that there would be a strong disincentive to having to explain why you couldn't find a qualified woman for your board or you couldn't find a qualified member of an underrepresented group.   The investment community has been the loudest voice in support of board diversity, but we're certainly starting to hear other voices that are pushing back and saying, "No, we think you ought to be simply deciding board members based on the way we've always done it." Diversity quotas are a “rough justice” approach in that it requires you to put different people on boards - but it does work. The argument against mandated board diversity is that that instead of making a decision about a board member based on pure merit, it's made on another basis: "We don't want to be required to pick a director who happens to be a woman or director who happens to be part of a member of an underrepresented community, we want to pick the best director whoever that is."   Big Ideas/Thoughts ESG risk management The ESG realm is huge, I mean, just climate change alone under the E part of it, is an enormous topic in itself, and then S and G, the social and governance aspects of it are related, but completely separate sets of issues and concerns to think through.   Wildfires are a huge concern here in California, which is where I'm based, and a good example of ESG risk management.  I'm talking to clients about in various respects about how to think about potential liability, how they could be affected by wildfires. If they are involved in a business that puts them at risk for liability related to wildfires, how to consider that - that's just one example of things that I'm starting to see come across my desk.   One of the things that is challenging to navigate the ESG waters, especially for public companies, is that you have to figure out how to say things because you want to let the market know about your commitment, but at the same time, not set yourself up for liability, and that's a huge challenge.  For example, what it means is reading your ESG report side by side with the 10-Ks and 10-Qs and other periodic reports you've put out under your 34 Act reporting and making sure that at the bottom line, you don't have inconsistencies.   You have to be clear with the market and with all of your stakeholders, which would include not only your shareholders, but your employees and your suppliers and the communities in which you do business and so forth about exactly what you're going to do and to be careful about not making statements that could be called greenwashing, not overstating what you're going to do.   Stakeholder Capitalism  I think that the Business Roundtable's statement in August of 2019 really had an enormous impact on changing the conversation about stakeholder capitalism. It put that on the front page of every business newspaper, and it brought it to the forefront in a way that I don't know that any other kind of initiative could have done.    You have buy-in from companies that are the leading corporate lights, companies that are solidly in the mainstream, the biggest financial institutions, for example. I think that's really a good thing.   Q: When you advise your clients about stakeholder capitalism, what do you advise them to do in order to be able to manage this issue?   I draw their attention back to their fiduciary duties because the bottom line is, as a director, you have fiduciary duties, and that's what governs your job, that's your north star in fulfilling your duties as a member of the board…you have a fiduciary duty to your stockholders.   Regarding short-term and long-term goals and how you look at it in advising directors, I would say, "Well, your fiduciary duty is to your shareholders. You don't have a technical fiduciary duty to your stakeholders, but it's a question of looking at the long term and looking down the road. Do you see that in order to operate your business in the longer term, you're going to need to start planning for the effects of climate change? You're going to need to start pivoting away from a particular business because it has such a high carbon impact, or maybe you want to invest in something that is a carbon capture technology?”    It all comes back to your shareholders - from a legal standpoint, that's still the guiding light. 

0:00 Intro.1:31 Start of interview2:30 Anne's "origin story". She grew up in Colorado and after attending college, she moved to DC to work on the Hill and later in the Reagan Administration (U.S. Department of Energy). She moved to Sacramento in the late 1980s, where she worked in and out of state government. In her role as Chief Deputy Director of the CA Department of Finance (under Governor Schwarzenegger) she served on the boards of CalPERS and CalSTRS, among many other state boards. In 2007 Stanford issued the first Clapman Report, outlining best practices principles that she used to improve the governance of the CalSTRS board. The next year, she joined CalSTRS as the first Director of Corporate Governance, just in time for the GFC of 2008! She got very involved with the Dodd Frank legislation in 2011 and the rules that came out of it, such as say-on-pay, proxy access, and others. She retired from CalSTRS in 2018 and later joined the boards of Victoria Secret & Co, Cohn Roberts Holding Corp (NYSE:CRHC) and joined PJT Camberview as a senior advisor.8:45 On the governance of state-owned or public entities, and the influence on politics on those boards. "Anytime there is a politician on a board, there will be a political bent to it." She did not sit on the board of CalPERS when they went after Safeway in their labor dispute (2004). At CalSTRS, they worked very hard to make sure that they did not pursue any political agenda. They made sure to follow a process when making any divestment decision.11:58 On joining the board of CRHC, and the state of SPACs. CRHC is merging with Allwyn Entertainment, a European lottery operator in a listing valued at $9.3bn.14:57 On the evolution of ESG. "The history of ESG at CalSTRS goes way back, they had a Statement of Investment Responsibility in 1978, outlining 21 risk factors (now called ESG factors). These are investment risks to the portfolio if they are not managed properly." There is a history of divestment from South Africa by California public pension funds during the Apartheid regime. UNPRI in early 2000s. "One of the issues is all the terminology that is thrown around: CSR, ESG, impact investing, moral or ethical investment, DEI, etc." 20:27 On the evolution of shareholder engagements. The example of CalSTRS and CII. The Engine No.1-Exxon Mobil case. "I've always thought that the acronym should be GES, because the "G" of governance is the infrastructure that sets in place how boards should handle these issues." "The advent of Say-on-Pay forced the engagement between investors and companies."25:53 On the new criticisms of ESG and politicization of corporations.27:54 On the exclusion of Tesla from the S&P500 ESG Index. 30:42 On the new SEC climate disclosure rules. "It's probably one of the boldest and most progressive proposals that has come out, probably ever, from the SEC." 34:35 Board diversity and her thoughts on CA courts striking down SB-826 and AB 979, and what these rulings mean for board diversity. Her role in promoting board diversity from CalSTRS starting in 2008, the Diverse Director Database. The role of the big institutional investors such as BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street to promote board diversity. The Nasdaq board diversity rule. DEI beyond the boardroom (racial equity audits, pay gaps, etc.)41:26 On the governance of private companies, and the rise of private markets. The role of CalSTRS on improving governance of private companies via its LP role and influence.45:00 Her recommendations on how directors should handle down cycles and recessions. "The governance processes are there to be the guardrails during the uptime and the downturns."47:11 The 3 books that have greatly influenced her life in the last few years:Biography of President Ulysses Grant, by Ron Chernow (2017)From Strength to Strength, by Arthur C. Brooks (2022)The Road to Character, by David Brooks  (2015)48:40 - Who were your mentors, and what did you learn from them? Rich Koppes (former GC of CalPERS), on the governance side.Bill Hauck (former head of the California Business Roundtable)49:45 - Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by? "Play the hand that's dealt to you."  "Don't obsess over the bitter, go forward." "Perfect is the enemy of tGood" "80% is better than 100% if you can get it, or zero." "The only constant of life is change."50:39 - An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves: When she travels to a new city she gets on those hop in hop off buses (typically tourist traps). 51:10 - The living person she most admires: Zelensky and the people of Ukraine.Anne Sheehan is a former Director of Corporate Governance at CalSTRS and currently serves on the boards of Victoria's Secret & Co and Cohn Roberts Holding Corp (NYSE:CRHC) and is a senior advisor at PJT Camberview.__ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

On this episode of Big Blend Radio, San Diego employment attorney Ward Heinrichs discusses California's various employment laws and regulations that affect the Food and Beverage Industry including the Fast-Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, Minimum Wage and Salary, COVID-19 Mask Mandates, and Board Diversity. Read Ward's article here: https://blendradioandtv.com/listing/midyear-california-employment-law-review-of-food-beverage-industry/ Ward Heinrichs appears on Big Blend Radio very 4th Wednesday. More: https://bestemploymentattorneysandiego.com/

0:00 Intro.1:30 Start of interview2:00 Lisa's "origin story". She grew up in Silicon Valley and after attending college at Stanford, she moved to Mexico City for 3 years where she worked in a boutique consulting firm. She later got an MBA at Harvard Business School. She then joined Bain & Co., became CEO of KnowledgeX (later sold to IBM) and co-founded ValuBond. She joined Visa in 2009, and Salesforce in 2012. In 2019, she joined the board of Colgate-Palmolive.8:20 In October of 2020, she joined Diligent Corporation as President and COO, based in SF/Bay Area. "Diligent has about 70% of the Fortune 1000 companies as clients, and it's a truly global product." Diligent did four acquisitions during the pandemic, aggregating "governance, risk, compliance 'GRC' and ESG." "It's a $40 billion TAM, and we are the biggest SaaS player in the space." "It's a killer set of applications together."13:45 Diligent Corporation got taken private by Insight Partners in 2016 (valuing the company at $624 million). "Now it's got to be one of the largest private SaaS companies."15:05 On the evolution of technology and board portals in corporate boardrooms.16:37 On the rise of ESG. "It's a very global trend." Examples from Australia, EU, UK, etc. On the SEC's approach with Chairman Gensler. Their global survey with Spencer Stuart, "finding 71% of boards are incorporating ESG into their company strategy, with 85% taking action to increase fluency on ESG." See Sustainability in the Spotlight: Board ESG Oversight and Strategy.20:56 Her thoughts on the L.A. state court judge striking down SB-826 (AB-979 got struck down in April) and what these rulings mean for board diversity. "Globally, women now occupy 26% of board seats." "In California, women occupy 28% of board seats." "So it seems that SB-826 and AB-979 had a positive effect on diversity of boards."26:41 On the recent push back by tech titans (Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, etc) on ESG, including the power of institutional investors from the likes of Larry Fink from BlackRock.29:05 On dual-class share structures. "We [Diligent Corporation] don't have an official position on it."31:32 On the rise of private markets and governance of private companies.37:04 On the politicization of corporate governance. "It is a sea change, 10 years ago CEOs avoided commenting on any political issue."39:05 On the looming recession, and what directors should be doing in this economic downturn. "Boards have dealt with crises before such as the dot com crisis in 2000 or the GFC in 2008, and it looks like we're hitting a new crisis." "It will disproportionally impact private companies."41:41 On virtual board meetings. "The virtual board meeting is 100% here to stay, but not 100% of the time." "There is no substitute for looking at people in the eye, no substitute for the hallway conversations."42:29 The 3 books that have greatly influenced her life:River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey,  by Candice Millard (2005)The Power Broker, Robert Moses and the Fall of NY, by Robert Caro (1974)I Will Bear Witness, by Victor Klemperer (1995)43:09 - Who were your mentors, and what did you learn from them? Her Dad.The Bridge Group (women peers)43.52 - Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by? "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." 44:33 - An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves: Harvesting honey bees!45:31 - The living person she most admires: RBG.Lisa Edwards is President and Chief Operating Officer of Diligent Corporation, the leader in modern governance providing SaaS solutions across governance, risk, compliance and ESG with more than $500 million in revenue and a $7 billion company valuation. __ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

How can the boards of the future effectively harness the power of diversity? Hear from Tom Gosling, member of the advisory panel at the Financial Reporting Council and an Executive Fellow of Finance at London Business School, Randall Peterson, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Academic Director of LBS's Leadership Institute, and Vyla Rollins, Executive Director of the Leadership Institute and an expert in board dynamics and organisational behaviour. This conversation is based on the findings of the Board Diversity and Effectiveness in FTSE 350 Companies report, which was commissioned by the Financial Reporting Council. The research was carried out jointly by the Leadership Institute and SQW, the economic and social development research consultancy. This is the second podcast of the series.

California recently passed designed to create more diversity on corporate boards of directors. On this episode of Big Blend Radio, San Diego employment attorney Ward Heinrichs explains how both laws face legal challenges. Read his article here: https://blendradioandtv.com/listing/equal-protection-arguments-challenge-california-board-diversity-laws/ Ward Heinrichs appears on Big Blend Radio very 4th Wednesday. More: https://bestemploymentattorneysandiego.com/ 

EPISODE SUMMARY Every Child Advocacy Center wants to create a space that is safe and inclusive for all children and families that walk through the door. At times, the process of creating that space and the conversations that need to be had to ensure such a space can be difficult and uncomfortable. In this episode, I speak with Gale Britton, the Board of Trustees President for Wynona's House, the CAC for Essex County, NJ. We intended to speak specifically about creating diversity within the entire organization. Gale speaks about the importance of clarifying the mission and vision of the organization, understanding the needs of the organization, and understanding the community you are serving. She also speaks about the importance of engaging the right people and what CAC leaders should consider when asking people to join the organization.   GUEST: Gale Britton is the President of the Board of Trustees for Wynona's House, the Child Advocacy Center for Essex County, NJ. She is also the managing partner of a consulting practice where she focuses on Diversity and Inclusion strategy, education, recruitment, and leadership development. Gale has over 30 years of experience in the corporate world, and has been serving on nonprofit boards for over 15 years.   RECOMMENDED RESOURCES: Gale Britton's full bio Wynona's House National Children's Alliance DEI priorities   Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org. Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

There is no one better to wrap up Season Two than Linda Akutagawa, President & CEO of LEAP. In this episode, Catt Phan and Tammy Tran speak to Linda about her family of Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors and how generations of violence against the API community has shaped her leadership to passionately advocate for a seat at the table for all API leaders. We discuss how we cannot depend on one leader to encompass the whole API diaspora and must support more leaders who take a leap of faith. Linda was a Commissioner on the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission and actively advocates for inclusive pathways for diverse leaders whether it is in the classroom or the boardroom. Linda is also the Immediate Past Chair of the Alliance for Board Diversity, a Board Member of the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (a co-founding organization of #StopAAPIHate), a member of the Asian/Asian American Institute Advisory Board at California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA) and a Board member of Japanese American Community Services (JACS). ________ SUBSCRIBE TO US @leapuncaptalent on https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-leap-podcast/id1560129458 (Apple Podcasts) /https://open.spotify.com/show/0j8YMZXrJwU7AlxHn2zh3t ( Spotify) / https://www.instagram.com/leapuncaptalent/ (Instagram) / https://twitter.com/LEAPuncaptalent (Twitter) / https://www.linkedin.com/company/leapuncaptalent/ (Linkedin) / https://www.facebook.com/LEAPUncapTalent (Facebook) Learn more about us at https://www.leap.org/ (leap.org)

In this episode, Matt chats to Martin about the consequences of picking the wrong board member and how you can avoid this to protect your vision.The Boardsi platform uses custom AI matching technology to make connections between executives and companies seamless. Our advanced technology mixed with meaningful human connection allows us to fill positions that are the right fit for the individual and directly benefit the company.

Boardsi is an opportunity based platform that connects you with the right executives based on your company's needs. We make putting a board together a fast task; something that could take months up to a year to accomplish. They put your available positions in front of thousands of qualified executives with diverse skill sets.Learn more about Boardsi and how they have been helping multiple companies have the right people in the right place.Find out more - https://boardsi.com/ 

Boardsi is a modern recruiting company providing executives with advisory positions and companies with top talent. Through our advanced technology, human connection, and private network we help revolutionize businesses and grow careers.In this episode, Matt chats to Martin about why Board diversity is important.

In our second podcast of our Fiftyfaces Focus Next Chapter Series we hear from four more seasoned voices who are all pursuing a rich and diverse set of roles.  First we meet with Margaret Casely Hayford, CBE, Chancellor of Coventry University, Special Trustee at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity and Chair at Shakespeare's Globe, among other board roles.  She talks about the steep learning curve in gaining familiarity with the mission and purpose of each organization as well as the importance of learning to listen and for a Board to be a supportive Board.  We speak also about the current levels of Board Diversity and the pace of change. William Bourne is an independent adviser to a number of LGPS pension funds and also chairs pension boards as well as being the founder of his own firm Linchpin, which provides advice on investments and governance to institutional investors. He shares his views on the importance of bringing about better decision making as a board member, as well as the role of a Chair to ensure that all voices are heard and that meetings stay on course.  We then cross the Atlantic to meet with Sandra Urie, Chairman Emeritus of Cambridge Associates, and the holder of a range of investment committee and Board roles.  She shares her views on the ideal size of an investment committee, and the importance of instilling an institutional quality process. We speak about the importance of good governance, sticking with the appropriate time horizon and about how the role changes through good and bad market environments.  Finally we hear from Julian Tregoning.  Julian, like William, is another familiar face in the City of London, and he has throughout his career held many board roles in positions that sit “outside the envelope” of his City career.  This is the ideal place to cut one's teeth in his view.  So following your passion and interests, learning to think like a fiduciary, build a process and listening deeply, some tips from our seasoned board and committee members on this episode.  Thank you for listening to the Fiftyfaces focus Next Chapter podcast.  I hope you have enjoyed listening to these tips for the next chapter. Follow us on Linked In, Twitter, apple podcasts, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.This podcast series was made possible by the kind support of Darwin Alternatives.Darwin Alternative Investment Management Limited offers innovative, alpha-driven investment solutions that are uncorrelated with traditional asset classes and feature business areas which have not previously been considered by investment funds. The firm aims to create new opportunities for investors to further diversify their portfolios and achieve stable absolute returns. 

Esther Aguilera is President and CEO of the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA), which convenes Latino directors and executives at the highest levels of corporate leadership.She's a proven leader who brings a 30-year record of successfully executing strategic business plans to drive organizational effectiveness, growth, and impact. In her current role, she influences some of the most powerful companies by bringing together accomplished executives at the pinnacle of corporate governance to advance diversity in the boardroom.  In our interview today, Esther and I discussed diversity and why having a diverse board can lead to better decision-making and overall company growth. Key takeaways from our interview:Diverse boards provide diverse perspectives that can help companies thriveQualifications for board membership involves specific educational focus areas, including P&L leadership Why boards should reflect their employee and customer base as well as adapt to future demographic trendsRelevant Links:Website: https://latinocorporatedirectors.org/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esther-aguilera-lcda/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClqCZ6TV0k7gUtgMS0kTQ0w Learn more about Project Genetics at https://projectgenetics.com

Suzanne Koepplinger is the Director of the Catalyst Initiative at The Minneapolis Foundation. Listen to hear how Suzanne she came to realize her purpose to help others by supporting their healing and growth. Through the work she is leading at the Catalyst Foundation, new pathways have been created to support culturally meaningful trauma healing practices. Bio Suzanne Koepplinger has led the Catalyst Initiative since its inception at the George Family Foundation in 2014. Catalyst’s purpose is to honor and foster culturally authentic self-care practices to advance health and well-being. Three years after launching this community informed philanthropic approach to addressing trauma and toxic stress, Catalyst was spun off to the Minneapolis Foundation in 2018 to bring promising practices to scale. Key accomplishments during this time include successfully advocating for public investment in non-narcotic pain management and integrative healing therapies as an addiction prevention strategy; raising and re-distributing over $5 million into community initiatives to build resilience and foster healing; and influencing shifts in philanthropy, healthcare, education and government. Suzanne previously served for ten years as the executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, leading the first research and community response in the country to address sex trafficking of American Indian women and girls. In that role she twice testified before U.S. Senate Congressional Committees on sexual exploitation. She is a certified trainer with the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center (NHTTAC) and the Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVCTTAC) and has extensive international experience as a trainer and public speaker. Topic examples include Reflective Leadership, Collective Action for Advancing Health Equity, Fostering Healing Centered Organizational Cultures, and Mind Body Medicine in Indian Country: Interrupting Historic Trauma. Suzanne holds a M.A. in the Art of Leadership from Augsburg University. She lives in Minneapolis and serves on the Board for Artspace Projects, where she leads the Board Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Task Force. She is happiest when on a remote river or hiking trail. https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-koepplinger-0748534/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The biggest bottleneck to board diversity is the slow pace of board renewal.  Is it really such a big problem?

Are your corporate policies perpetuating systemic exclusion in boardrooms?

I want to make the argument that board diversity is about more than the list of who's in the room.  And I *try* to make that argument here.  Tune in to see what you think.