WACL NED Talk – What to do when something goes wrong on your watch

Hardly a week goes past without the headlines being dominated by news of the latest corporate crisis with questions asked about the role the Board played.  It’s enough to make anyone wonder whether the upsides of being a NED are outweighed by the risks of such moments.  Our next WACL NED Networking ‘virtual’ lunch will explore that very topic, helping us to be better versed in what to do when things go wrong on your watch and how to protect your personal reputation.

Our panel brings together the perspectives of a Chair who has successfully navigated difficult times, a lawyer who has helped many clients do the same and a head hunter with reassurance on how NED careers can survive the worst.  We will be joined respectively by Lord Mervyn Davies who is the Chariman of LetterOne,  Glyndebourne Productions and The Lawn Tennis Association, Alice Englehart from Allen & Overy and Tim Robb from Eric Salmon. The event will be held on Zoom and chaired by Sara Bennison

Please join us on 27^th November from 12.15-1.30 to explore this topic by contacting [email protected] to save you a spot!

Speaker biographies:

Lord Mervyn Davies

Lord Davies is a Chairman of LetterOne, a business whom invests in sectors fundamental to society’s sustainable prosperity: energy, technology, health and retail. He is also the Chairman of the Lawn Tennis Association, Chairman of Glyndebourne Productions Ltd, an Advisor to Teneo and he is also the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Sri Lanka. He was Minister for Trade, Investment, Small Business and Infrastructure from January 2009 until May 2010.

Prior to that, Lord Davies was Chairman and previously CEO, and served on the Board of Standard Chartered for over 12 years. He was awarded a CBE for his services to the financial sector and the community in Hong Kong in June 2002 where he served as a member of the HK Exchange fund for seven years. Lord Davies is a JP in Hong Kong, and he is an Honorary Distinguished Professor at Cardiff Business School.

Lord Davies is married with two children and is a fluent Welsh speaker.

Alice Englehart

Alice is a Litigation Partner at the international law firm, Allen & Overy LLP.  She has worked on several complex and high profile commercial disputes, regularly advising on multi-jurisdictional matters across a wide range of sectors and industries including consumer and retail, aerospace and defence, private equity, sport and financial services.

Alice acts as a strategic adviser to clients in legal proceedings across the globe, assisting with and coordinating some of their most reputationally-sensitive matters. Her clients include FTSE companies and large international groups, as well as their senior management.

Tim Robb

Tim joined Eric Salmon & Partners in 2022 as a Consultant in the Global Board and Governance Advisory Practice across sectors, and in the Consumer vertical. Eric Salmon & Partners is a leadership and advisory firm with 135 colleagues across Europe & Asia, and strong partners in the Americas. The firm serves Private Equity and their portfolio, listed, and family-owned companies; offering Leadership & Advisory services, Executive and Non-Executive search.

Tim is a collaborative, consultative multi-lingual advisor with a career studying and practising the art and science of leadership. After a decade with the British Army, he spent five years as a Regional Director with global management consultancy Arcadis, before moving into executive search in 2012. Since then, he has advised clients on the appointment of exceptional Chairs, Non-Executive Directors, and C-suite executives across the European mid-market, for listed, privately-held and private-equity-backed companies.

Sara Bennison 

Sara has been at Nationwide Building Society since 2016. Her role encompasses product, proposition, insight, marketing, brand, communications and social investment. She sits on the Executive Committee of the Society, is CEO of its subsidiary The Mortgage Works and also of the development company building a not for profit community in Swindon. Sara is a Non Executive Director of the LTA. She is also a Trustee of The Nationwide Foundation. After graduating from Oxford, Sara spent the first 18 years of her career agency side at JWT in London and then, after a stint in Bangkok, worked for BST, APL, D’Arcy, Bates and Grey where she was Head of Account Management. She crossed over to ‘the other side’ with a group role at BT followed by 7 years at Barclays where she ended up as CMO of the Personal and Corporate Bank globally. She spent nearly 10 years on the General Media Panel for the ASA and as Vice President of ISBA. Outside of work, it’s all about family. She is married to Neil (Amor) and is a mum of 4.