Governance Programmes

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The objective of this 80 min. presentation delivered by Simon Osborne FCG is to persuade the audience of the vital part that the exercise of good governance plays in the success of all types of business.  

The presentation will explain the meaning and purpose of good governance. How it concerns the proper exercise of power by different groups – directors, shareholders and other stakeholders such as customers, employees, neighbours and suppliers. It is concerned with disclosure and transparency; accountability; culture; internal control; avoiding the concentration of power in too few hands; doing business both legally and in the right way; and handling ethically conflicts of interest and duty as they arise.  

It will be shown that a proportionate and insightful approach the application of governance principles in all organisations is to be commended; and that governance measures need to be embedded on a ‘business as usual’ basis, with governance requirements being factored into each board’s annual cycle. Each organisation’s own governance framework needs to be bespoke, made to measure.  

Governance essentials will be highlighted. For example: 

• a clear board and committee structure with up-to-date terms of reference and delegations of authority; 
• a board calendar with the right number of board meetings and committee meetings for the business; 
• clear and embedded processes and controls; 
• a committed, skilled, genuinely diverse and ‘challenging’ board; 
• directors who keep up to date and who genuinely understand the organisation’s business; 
• high quality management information comprising clear and succinct board papers which are delivered to directors at least a week before the board or committee meeting at which they are to be considered; 
• transparent relationships with shareholders and other stakeholders; and 
• a willingness to ask the right questions of management which go beyond the numbers, and to insist on proper answers. 

The presentation is intended to be interactive with the audience encouraged to ask questions and engage with the presenter. Following the presentation, participants will receive a paper setting out the key themes of the presentation together with the presenter’s slides. 

Simon is a Fellow of the global Chartered Governance Institute (‘CGI’), having qualified first as an English solicitor. Simon is Joint Head of CGI Board Evaluation, with which he has been involved since 2003. He is also a governance consultant and trainer. He is a former CEO of the CGI division for the UK and Ireland. He worked as in-house counsel for 30 years in the British railway industry; latterly as company secretary and general counsel, and then as a main board executive director, of the former Railtrack Group PLC. The influencing and negotiating skills required of a company secretary are vital too for his role as a board evaluator. 

Since 2019, Simon has been an Executive Fellow with the London Business School Leadership Institute, raising the profile of the Leadership Institute in the business community by acting as an ambassador and representative of its efforts. He is also a member of, and adviser to, the International Corporate Governance Network. In 2019/2020, he served as Principal Adviser to the Astana International Financial Centre to develop the AIFC Corporate Governance Principles and Guidance.  

Simon is a vice-president (formerly a board member and deputy chair) of a Royal Charter charity, the Railway Benefit Fund. Previously he was an NED for several years of a boutique media and events company. He has served also as a member of the audit committee of The Law Society of England and Wales; the audit committee of a major City of London law firm; the Committee of Inquiry into UK Vote Execution; the former authority for the British Transport Police Force; and the statutory Railway Heritage Committee.