2011 marks the 10th year of Board Games, The Globe's annual report on corporate governance. See the rankings: 2011 corporate governance rankings and see the full 2011 Board Games website here.
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“Certainly if individuals and young people who cannot find jobs look at some of the sources of the financial meltdown, they’ve got a fair bit to be angry about. Then fast forward to the boards of directors. Some of them may not be trying, I have no idea. But the people I talk to, the directors are really trying to respond. It’s a hugely complex task. I have a particular philosophical bias that if you put smart people in a room and you rely on the wisdom of the group and give them a chance to contribute the way they have a competitive advantage in contributing, then you should get some wise outcomes. It doesn’t always work. But that’s the best we can do, I think.”
--Gail Cook-Bennett, chairwoman of Manulife Financial Corp.
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“Our members wouldn’t be paying their money for CCGG membership if they didn’t believe there were valid things being done here. They wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t believe that having good governance decreases risk and increases long-term sustainable performance. We’re not talking about stupid people. We’re talking about major pension funds and institutional investors. And they do believe in the value of good governance.”
--Stephen Erlichman, executive director of Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, representing major institutional investors
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“It wasn’t that many years ago where it was more at the board level ‘Speak when spoken to.’ And the [combined] chairman and CEO held the gavel and dominated the discussion and the content of the discussion. The advent of the non-executive chairman has meant a board participates in the setting of the agenda for meetings. With all of that, and much more interactive discussion and debate and critique on a variety of issues, I think the board dynamic has changed rather dramatically, not just on bank boards but on all boards.”
--John Mayberry, chairman of Bank of Nova Scotia
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“I think it’s really important to keep your eye on what you’re there for, which is for the business and long-term value creation. You can’t get preoccupied with governance changes, I think that’s a mistake. But I’ve seen a move from saying, ‘Oh, corporate governance? Let’s check all these boxes.’ [Now] it’s just a way you do business yourself, the way you conduct yourself. It’s just embedded in everything. It’s not something that’s separate over here that’s a check list. It’s just how you do what you do.”
--Mary Mogford, director of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and Nordion Inc.
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"If I had to use one term to characterize boards 15 to 20 years ago, that would be ‘passive.’ Today in my experience, they are very engaged. Fifteen or 20 years ago, management had a much more active role in deciding issues than they do today. Today the agenda is a co-operative effort between the chairman of the board and management. ... A lot of boards were constituted with people connected to the CEO and they felt beholden to the CEO. It made it difficult for them to challenge what management wanted to do. That, in my experience, has completely changed."
--Peter Dey, director of Goldcorp Inc. and MI Developments Inc.
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