WEBINARS

Tim Wainwright became Chief Executive of WaterAid UK in May 2017. Before that, Tim had been working in the development and human rights arena for many years, at the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission, Oxfam and the VSO in the UK, Beijing and Bangkok.  He has been Chief Executive of ADD (Action on Disability and Development) International and the Chair of Bond, the consortium of UK international development agencies.  Tim has seen many charity and NGO boards in action, and using his own experience, will discuss what makes a good board, and where things can go wrong.  He will reveal the huge benefits to be gained by any organisation when the relationship between chair and chief executive is working well, and perhaps highlight some signs to watch out for in any due diligence process if you are nervous that things should not be as you would hope.  We should add that Tim Clark was Tim Wainwright’s first chair at WaterAid UK!

Tim began his career at British Airways, spending eight years in operational research and marketing roles, after completing a degree in maths at Cambridge and a masters at Lancaster.

Andrew retired from Linklaters in 2007, but quickly built an impressive and varied non-executive portfolio, while enjoying much more of the pastimes that had played second fiddle during his first career.

His non-executive roles have been in the insurance sector (Clerical Medical, Scottish Widows, Abbey Life Assurance) and he is still a member of the With Profits Committee of the Wesleyan, a mutual life assurance company. His charities have largely, but not entirely, been concerned with education. Immediately after retirement, he became a trustee of the Guildhall School Trust (which raises money for, and manages the endowment funds of, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama) and was a member of its investment committee. He is now a Trustee (and chair of the audit committee) of the Orwell Foundation, where he is most closely involved with the Orwell Youth Prize. He is also a trustee and chair of the audit committee of Mary Ward Settlement, a charity based in central London which runs a college of further education and a law centre, of Spitalfields Music, whose primary objective is to provide music education in Tower Hamlets, and of Conciliation Resources, an international non-governmental organisation focused on peace-building in conflict zones throughout the world, where he is also Treasurer and chair of the audit committee. His most recent appointment is to the board of the Early Opera Company. Plenty for members to learn.

Gavin was once a lawyer at Allen & Overy.  He moved from this to become a recruiter, co-founding Shilton Sharpe, which became one of the leading legal recruitment agencies under his watch.  But reinventing himself once was not enough.  In 2012 he set that aside and began a third career as a coach and psychotherapist.  He lives in Monaco.

Gavin has kindly agreed to take members through his transition out of law, and eventually out of the City altogether.  He will share his perspectives on the burdens of corporate life and the psychological impact of workaholism on himself and on so many lawyers.  He will also touch upon the richness that comes with having a diversified portfolio career, as alongside his main career(s) he has also been a non-executive director and a trustee for many years. We hope his fresh and honest approach will inspire members to reflect on what they want next for their own lives.

Dan has spent most of his career in the corporate world practising law in New York, Hong Kong and London. He has served as General Counsel and Company Secretary of BT Group, Cable & Wireless and Misys. He has chaired the Association of Corporate Counsel and been Vice Chair of the GC 100. He has been named in the FT’s list of the top 30 Global General Counsel and in 2014 the FT named him one of the top 100 LGBT executives.  Dan has sat in many many board meetings and will have much to offer members on their purpose, politics and dynamics.

He is now using his legal talents in a different arena, as GC of the Crick Institute, the biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying human health and disease.  We will all benefit by hearing whether the governance of this institution is in fact so very different from Dan’s previous corporate world.

Dan will share with members his thoughts on the workings of boards, how advisers are perceived, how lawyers are perceived and therefore the hurdles that may have to be overcome for us lawyers to be accepted as full members of the board room.  Expect a few tales of when the non-executives were truly valued and perhaps too when they simply added little to the pot.