March 6th, 2020 (Toronto and Amsterdam)
COMPETENT BOARDS INC. ANNOUNCES NEW EUROPEAN PARTNER
Investors all over the world are now demanding board oversight on ESG, Climate and Sustainability. As such, board competencies in these areas are quickly becoming a must for current and future board members.
Boards who want to acquire the needed insight have very few choices. Especially if one wants to benefit from the insight and expertise of the most experienced board members, CEOs and investors in the world.
Living in a travel constrained and fast-paced world does not make acquiring the needed knowledge easy. That is until now. Competent Boards, with the highly appraised ONLINE Competent Boards Certificate Program, taught by the world's most experienced board members, CEOs, investors and experts will now be accessible to even more board members, executives, investors and those who advise them.
Tom Cummings, a renowned board advisor with 25 years of executive and board experience, is joining Competent Boards as a European partner.
With the new addition, Competent Boards is able to offer its online ESG, climate and sustainabilityfocused certificate program to even more leaders around the globe. As an experienced board facilitator, Tom will also be able to deliver our in-person offerings including customized boards education and other in-person board advisory services.
“We now have a proven online program that is highly valued by global board members, investors, senior executives and those advising them. Bringing Tom on board will enable us to advise even more leaders around the globe on ESG, climate and sustainability.” says the CEO of Competent Boards, Helle Bank Jorgensen.
When asked about joining Competent Boards, Tom replied: "I became interested in Competent Boards because it addresses three governance themes facing boards in the coming decades:
1. How do we develop the qualities and abilities we need in the next generation board members, especially when no one has time to travel to in-person courses or take action outside of day to day challenges? Where do we go to raise the quality of our thinking and actions?
2. As a board member myself, how do I stay current and find expertise to face the new frontiers in the boardroom? For example, how do we work with SDGs beyond the window dressing? What steps must we take to be more socially inclusive or stakeholder conscious? What about new data and AI developments? What will regulatory shifts do to our business models?
3. As a board adviser, how can I provide ways for the top team to learn more? How do I link them with peers who don't have a stake in their decisions, and build a community of peers that will last through time? For me, Competent Boards is pioneering a cloud-based low-carbon learning lab where we can discuss these and other topics in a structured way, with the best qualified and experienced governance people in the world. All while learning and building relationships with our peers. I am excited to work with Helle and the team to take Competent Boards to a new level across many time zones."
For more information about Competent Boards and the Competent Boards Certificate Program please visit www.competentboards.com
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About Tom Cummings:
Tom brings a rich combination of experiences as a board member, business executive, author and adviser to senior leaders in more than 30 countries. As a senior executive in Unilever, ABN AMRO Bank and Shell International Tom used his expertise as a planner and social systems thinker to design strategic leadership transformation programs. For 25 years he has applied this skill to the cutting edge of mainstream business challenges facing hundreds of companies.
At the same time, Tom engages with next-generation scale-ups and pace-setting companies while serving on the board of the B Corp movement in Europe and as a founding CEO adviser to the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. He is known for his ability to design and host meetings and decision-making processes that bring fresh insights and new thinking to the demanding new social, political, economic and technological realities facing governing boards and executive teams around the world.
As an entrepreneur, Tom has co-founded, financed and built companies and consortia. As an academic he has been visiting professor at the Universities of Cambridge, Pretoria, Insead, Chicago, Dhaka and Strathmore in Nairobi and is core faculty in his home country for the New Board Program at The Netherlands Business School Nyenrode. As a Research Fellow and Academic at IMD and the University of London he has conducted research on topics such as: Leading technological and social innovation through alliances and networks and designing scenarios and strategy as a learning process. He has Coauthored ‘Leadership Landscapes’ and ‘Nine Visions of Capitalism’ and has published a number of crossdisciplinary articles and book chapters. He is currently designing an emerging leaders’ program as a board member of the Tällberg Foundation in Sweden, centered on the question: "How On Earth Can We Live Together? With New Thinking for a New Reality"
About Competent Boards Inc:
Competent Boards offers professional development and advisory focused on bringing ESG, Climate and Sustainability insight to boardrooms, investors and executives globally. The faculty delivering the highly praised online program, consists of over 70 of the world’s leading board members, C-suite executives, investors and experts including the following - Paul Polman, Former CEO, Unilever and Chair, International Chamber of Commerce; Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chair, Maersk and Siemens; Erika Karp, Founder & CEO, Cornerstone Capital Group; Mark Hawkins, Chief Financial Officer, Salesforce; The Honourable John Manley, Chair, CIBC; Board Member, TELUS; Robert H. Herz, Board Member, Morgan Stanley and SASB Foundation and Thomas Thune Andersen, Chair Orsted, Annette Verschuren, CEO & Chair, NRStor Inc., Board Member, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Air Canada, Saputo Inc., and Canadian Natural Resources Limited.
Competent Boards is led by Helle Bank Jorgensen.
About Helle Bank Jorgensen:
Helle Bank Jorgensen is a renowned global sustainability, climate change, and ESG advisor with close to 30 years of experience helping companies and investors turn sustainability into strong financial results. Helle has worked with hundreds of world-leading companies, including IKEA, Nike, Levi’s, Pfizer, Shell, Orsted, Unilever, Maersk, Novozymes, Novo Nordisk, Vestas, as well as SMEs and investors.
Besides being a board member and running Competent Boards, she serves on His Royal Highness Prince of Wales A4S Global Expert Panel, the Cornerstone Capital Global Advisory Council, the WBCSD Governance & Internal Oversight High-Level Advisory Group and the Future-Fit Business Benchmark Release Council. Helle is a Board Facilitator for the UN Global Compact Board Program and a regular keynote speaker and author of many thought-leading articles and books.
Helle was the creator of the world’s first Green Account based on lifecycle assessment, as well as the world’s first Integrated Report, the first holistic supply chain program, and was the principal organizer for the CEO/Investor-network for Business Ethics and Non-Financial Reporting. She led the improvement of DJSI and CDP ranking and investor communication for global companies and has worked on Natural Capital Accounting for IFC/World Bank.
Helle was a Partner with PwC for 11 years, building and leading sustainability and climate change practices in Europe and the US. She has extensive experience providing strategic and operational guidance to all functions within an organization, including advising at the C-suite and board level.
Helle is a Business Lawyer, and State Authorized Public Accountant by training and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Auditing.
Website: www.competentboards.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CompetentBoards