On March 15, 2024, the latest graduates of the Corporate Secretary program successfully passed the qualifying exam and received certificates. The program participants included representatives of state-owned and private enterprises, insurance companies, banks, joint stock companies and limited liability companies. Most participants were corporate secretaries, corporate governance specialists and lawyers.
The Ukrainian Corporate Governance Institute, in cooperation with the Corporate Governance Professional Association and the State Property Fund of Ukraine, organized the program.
The lecturers and guest speakers of the program shared their achievements and experience. Oleksandr Okuniev, Chairman of the CGPA Board of Directors, began the program by answering the question of corporate governance and defining the role, legal status and function of the company’s corporate secretary. O. Okuniev also discussed the activities of the governing bodies of JSCs with the participants. Nataliia Shevchenko, Senior Associate at Ernst & Young, former Corporate Secretary of PJSC National Depository of Ukraine, who became a finalist in the Corporate Secretary 2018 competition and was awarded the Professional Breakthrough of the Year nomination, shared her experience and advice on general meetings of shareholders, namely their competencies, types, convening and methods of holding. Anatolii Pyasetskyi, Training and Development Manager at YouControl, shared with the participant’s life hacks for searching for information about counterparties in the Youcontrol system. Shadi Saad, Managing Partner of Saad Legal, shared his experience in resolving litigation disputes regarding the convening and holding of general meetings of shareholders. Volodymyr Igonin, Partner at Vasil Kisil & Partners and member of the CGPA’s Board of Directors, focused the participants’ attention on the issue of significant and related-party transactions. Inna Martynenko, Deputy Director of the NSSMC Department, spoke about the relationship between the issuer and the regulator, namely the NSSMC. Olena Stupak, Executive Director of EMCON LLC, CGPA member, spoke about the requirements for disclosure of information by issuers of securities and persons providing collateral for such securities. Natalia Degtyariova, the CGPA member, concluded the program with practical recommendations on the work of corporate secretaries in banks and their interaction with the regulator.
In their feedback, the participants highly appreciated the professionalism and preparation of the speakers for the program. They especially noted the logic of the program itself, the selection of topics and the event’s organisation. Yana Tverdokhlib, Corporate Secretary of Poltava Mining and Processing Plant, expressed her gratitude to all the course instructors for their high level of knowledge, professionalism, and advice from their experience. She also noted that all the information gleaned from the program was helpful, modern, and very relevant, and the speakers were highly qualified, each with their interesting teaching methods. The lectures were so interesting that they were exciting. Another program participant, Stanislav Krupoderya, co-founder of SOLAR ENERGO UKRAINE LLC, noted that the program de facto exceeded all expectations, an incredible combination of theory and philosophy of corporate governance with practical recommendations on ways to capitalise the company and increase shareholder returns.
Most of the participants agreed that such a program is worthwhile and should be held periodically to update knowledge, keep up with the times, monitor updates, and implement best practices of corporate governance in Ukraine.
Registration for the next Corporate Secretary Summer Program is now open. The dates are July 15-19, 2024.