4th Annual Aspen Critical Issues and Risk Forum
Rebuilding Trust: Effective Board Governance in Times of Public Scrutiny
This year’s Forum explored the causes of declining trust and leadership effectiveness of corporate boards.
With global disruption rapidly becoming the new norm, the need for influential, proactive, informed and diverse leadership on risk has never been greater. Yet, the data shows that many Boards continue to operate as as behaviourally monolithic, consensus-driven thinkers. This year’s Forum will explore some of the structural impediments to dynamic governance and constructive conflict as well as the mind-set of the risk savvy board of the future. The Forum will also offer new perspectives and approaches for boards to engage risk sustainably and adaptively.
Topic breakouts
- Diversity of counsel, unity in command: encouraging constructive candour in the board room
- Winning in the new normal:how to succeed in times of heightened change, uncertainty, and disruption (cyber-threats, global supply chain risks, collapsing oil prices, disruptive technology, macros political risks)
- The incentives paradox: toggling between long-term strategy and short-term earnings pressure.
Programme
09:15-09:30
Welcome
09:30-09:45
Introductions
Harlan Loeb, Global Practice Chair, Critical Issues & Reputation Risk, Edelman & Professor of Crisis & the Court of Public Opinion, Northwestern Law School
09:45-12:00
Session 1: Crisis and Strategy for Board Governance
Diversity of Counsel, Unity in Command: Encouraging Constructive Candour in the Board Room
Professor Daniel Diermeier, Dean at Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
Whose Risk Is It Anyway: The Province of the Risk Committee
Harlan Loeb, Global Practice Chair, Critical Issues & Reputation Risk, Edelman & Professor of Crisis & the Court of Public Opinion, Northwestern Law School
Read Harlan’s blogpost, “Building Trust: Effective Board Governance in Times of Public Scrutiny”
The Incentives Paradox: Toggling between Long-term Strategy and Short-term Earnings Pressure
Roxanne Decyk, Director, Petrofac, DigitalGlobe, Ensco, Alliant Techsystems
12:00-12:45
Working Lunch: What 2016 Means for Smart Boards
Steve Schmidt, Vice Chairman of Public Affairs, Edelman & Political Analyst, MSNBC
12:45-14:15
Session 2: Connecting Culture and Operational Challenges
Risk Culture in Firms: Exemplars from the Financial Sector
Dr Michelle Tuveson, Founder and Executive Director, Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies, University of Cambridge Judge Business School
The Middle East Power Grab: Oil for Export Only
Rachel Bronson, Executive Director and Publisher, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists & Adjunct Professor for Global Energy, Northwestern Kellogg School of Management
14:30-16:00
Session 3: Sustaining Intra and Inter Organisational Relationships
Patience and a Sense of Humor: Building Long Term Relationships in the Middle East and Asia
Iain Twine, CEO, South East Asia and Australasia, Edelman
Closing Panel & Remarks
Chair: Harlan Loeb, Global Practice Chair, Critical Issues & Reputation Risk, Edelman & Professor of Crisis & the Court of Public Opinion, Northwestern Law School
Meeting convenors
- Harlan Loeb, Global Practice Chair, Critical Issues & Reputation Risk, Edelman; Professor of Crisis & the Court of Public Opinion, Northwestern Law School
- Roxanne Decyk, Director, Petrofac, DigitalGlobe, Ensco, Alliant Techsystems
- Michelle Tuveson, Executive Director, Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies
- Daniel Diermeier, Dean, the University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy
