Insights

The Directors College welcomed author and global expert on collaboration processes and 2022 Social Innovator of the Year, Adam Kahane, for a webinar focused on transformative facilitation, a structured approach for addressing complex and problematic situations, and how to work with your board to remove obstacles, bridge differences, and move forward.

Guest panelist Mike Steep, Executive Director, The Disruptive Technologies and Digital Cities (DTDC) Program, Stanford University Global Projects Center for a conversation with Michael Hartmann, Principal of The Directors College to explore the acceleration of disruptive technologies, the ensuing opportunities and risks, and key impacts to business leaders and board directors.

In the February 9th session of the McMaster Collaboratorium, Principal of The Directors College Michael Hartmann was joined by Carole Piovesan, Partner & Co-Founder, INQ Data Law and Lloyd Komori, C.Dir., Faculty at The Directors College, and former Chief Risk Officer, OPG for an interactive session exploring the real and emerging A.I. risks boards should be paying attention to and ensuring that a plan is in place for A.I. oversight.

On February 2, the McMaster Collaboratorium was honoured to welcome Perry Bellegarde, C.Dir., Assembly of First Nations, National Chief for an important conversation with host Michael Hartmann to share wisdom on what businesses need to be purpose-led and make the topic of ESG a key priority for the good of all stakeholders and for the good of the planet.

On January 27, Dr. Michael Hartmann welcomed Kee Wong, Chair, The Australian Institute of Directors Innovation Committee (Australia) and Bob Zukis, Conference Board ESG Fellow & Founder and CEO, Digital Directors Network and Professor, USC Marshall School of Business (USA) to talk about how board directors and board associations are seeking to educate and prepare board directors for asking the right questions, and understanding the answers around digital innovation and its risks.

Michael Hartmann, Principal, The Directors College and guest panelists Rob Burgess, Chair of the Compensation Committee, NVIDIA and Rob Siegel, Lecturer in Management, Stanford Graduate School of Business discussed the challenges to digitally transforming an organization and what role the board can play in supporting change at the November 25 session of The McMaster Collaboratorium.

Kicking off the fall season for the McMaster Collaboratorium webinar series, Karel Vrendenburg, Director, Global Design Leadership & Academic Programs at IBM and Marianne Jackson, C-Suite Executive (CHRO) and Executive Consultant for public and non-public organizations in Silicon Valley and Institute for the Future board member examine how design methodologies and strategic foresight tools can help boards identify future scenarios and analyze the impacts on their key stakeholders.

On June 16, in the final Spring session of The McMaster Collaboratorium, Terry Goodtrack, C.Dir., President and CEO of The Aboriginal Financial Officers Association (AFOA) of Canada, Kee Wong, Chair of The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Innovation Committee, Patrice Merrin, Independent Non-Executive Director at Glencore and Principal of The Directors College, Dr. Michael Hartmann examine what great governance means in the post-COVID-19 world and the new topics, best practices,

In this session from The McMaster Collaboratorium on June 9, 2020, leading Crown Corporation Board Chairs, Françoise Bertrand, Chair, Board of Directors at VIA and Douglas Harrison, Chair, Board of Directors at the Canadian Commercial Corporation, share their perspectives with The Directors College Principal, Dr. Michael Hartmann, on our current environment and how it has impacted approaches to governance and effective board engagement.

In the June 2 session from The McMaster Collaboratorium, Principal of The Directors College, Michael Hartmann discusses how boards are learning to assess organizational performance, risk and strategy and how they will need to develop an effective audit committee for the current environment and beyond with panelists Dr. Richard LeBlanc, Professor of Law, Governance & Ethics, York University and Faculty at The Directors College and Christine Williams, C.Dir., Governor, Board of Governors, Centenni