Encouraging Young Governance Professionals

• Date: 01 July 2017
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/bl.30077

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Evaluating Your CEo on What

MattErs—and no MorE! ........ 4

a Word in Your Ear ............... 5

using tEChnologY to EnriCh

govErnanCE—What’s PossiblE

noW and What’s CoMing ........ 6

NUMBER 152, JULY–AUG. 2017

www.boardleadershipnewsletter.com

(continued on page 2)

Encouraging Young

Governance Professionals

An Interview with Alex Swallow

Increasing the diversity of board membership is a goal for many organizations.

Here Board Leadership Editor Caroline Oliver draws on the wisdom and experience

of Alex Swallow1—a pioneer in encouraging young people to get involved in board

leadership and boards to take advantage of all they have to offer. Please note that

the term “trustee” is commonly used in the United Kingdom for those who serve

on charity boards.

BOARD LEADERSHIP

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO GOVERNANCE

View this newsletter online at wileyonlinelibrary.com

Board Leadership • DOI: 10.1002/bl • July-Aug. 2017

Caroline: Can you tell me a little bit

about yourself and why you got

interested in board leadership?

Alex: A quick snapshot of me is

that I am the founder of Young Charity

Trustees,2 a small, UK charitable orga-

nization that encourages young people

to apply for board positions and chari-

ties to consider young people when

recruiting trustees. My work trying to

influence change in this area has led

me to my current business, The Influ-

ence Expert (www.theinfluenceexpert

.com), where I help people grow their

influence to increase the impact that

they have on the world.

My interest in board leadership

started in my mid-twenties. I had

moved to London and I didn’t particu-

larly feel part of a community there. I

wanted to support a charity, so I saw

an advert in the paper and joined the

housing committee of a North Lon-

don charity that supports people with

learning disabilities and their families. I

loved the work of the charity and must

have come across as pretty keen: I was

always asking questions and trying to

learn more. One day I was chatting

with a member of the staff when I was

told the chief executive wanted to see

me. To my great surprise I was asked if

I would consider becoming a member

of the trustee board!

I was very taken aback, as I

thought being a trustee was only for

retired or very experienced people. I

decided to take up the role, as I was

passionate about the work of the

charity and honored to be asked. I

am glad I did—it changed my life. As

a trustee, I ended up being co vice-

chair, company secretary, chairing the

committee I had joined and getting

involved in all sorts of things I would

never have imagined, like helping plan

the new building development for the

charity.

sEPtEMbEr 21–22, 2017

Policy Governance® Boot Camp

— Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

This two-day event aims to pro-

vide a thorough understanding of

Policy Governance as a model for

boards of directors.

For more information go to

http://pgbootcamp.net/.

oCtobEr 4, 2017

The OnTarget Board Members:

8 Indisputable Behaviors

— Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

The “8 Behaviors” is an approach

to understanding best practices

in governance that aims to enable

your board to:

•reduce liability,

•increase transparency,

•improve accountability, and

•improve role clarity.

For more information go to

http://cmraso.com/uw.htm.

oCtobEr 11, 2017

Administrative Support

(Board Secretary) Workshop

— Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Designed for board secretaries

(staff or board members/volunteers)

who support their boards of direc-

tors by preparing and ensuring that

the board’s official documents are

maintained properly.

EVENTS

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