Canada Think Tank highlights board diversity

Corporate Secretary held its Canada Think Tank 2012 at the TMX Broadcast Center in Toronto last week, and a number of key takeaways came out of the full day of panel discussions and peer-to-peer networking with corporate secretaries and governance professionals. 

For a full write-up covering the entire day of panels and networking discussion, check the Corporate Secretary website in November.

Picking up on the move toward diversity gaining strength in the US and Canada, the morning panel, ‘Mandatory quotas in the boardroom & the corporate secretary’s role in promoting boardroom diversity offered participants the following advice:

• One panelist made it very clear that in order to have an effective policy on boardroom diversity, you have to define it in a way that makes sense. ‘Define diversity at such a vigorous level so that you can’t game it,’ the panelist said.

• When it comes to gender diversity, many companies believe that if they have one female board member, their board is diverse. ‘One woman on the board is not enough,’ remarked another panelist. ‘The critical number is three.’

• Diversity of experience is also a key consideration for selecting new board members. Panelists stressed that obtaining a diverse array of savvy board members with experience in areas from finance to risk management must be a part of any winning diversity strategy.

• A new program to help introduce companies to diverse candidates across all spectrums (race, gender, disabled, etc) will be unveiled in November.  

Next up will be the Corporate Secretary Think Tank East Coast 2012, to be held in New York on November 5.