On October 1, 70 participants of the updated program, which was held in very special conditions, received certificates of successful completion of the Professional Development Program for Board Members “Corporate Director”. Some of the program participants participated online and some offline. The owners of small and medium-sized companies in Ukraine and Central Asia, directors, members of supervisory boards, and boards of directors of large companies were happy to share their own experience in solving extremely complex business problems and participated in solving the tasks that the speakers of the program set for them as members of the simulated boards of companies.

The second module of the Program began with the topic of succession planning as a task of the Board, which was discussed with the participants by Oleksandr Okuniev, Chairman of the CGPA Management Board.

Oleksiy Dolgikh, the Managing Partner of the Ukrainian office of Boyden Global Executive Search, shared with the participants the experience of CEO recruitment in large Ukrainian and international companies and also focused on the role and tasks of the company’s supervisory board in this process.

Pavlo Verkhnyatsky, founder and CEO of COSA, in his presentation on information and analytical support of the Board’s activities, emphasized what board members do not see and whether the company’s compliance really works. Also interesting for the participants was the story about the peculiarities of the international aspect of the Board’s information support.

Dmytro Strizhov, Founder and General Director of the Holding of Security Companies “SHERIF”, defined what corporate security was, how it should and should be ensured, what opportunities there were for this and what should be taken into account. D.Strizhov also highlighted the tasks of the Board in the process of ensuring business security.

Yulia Kholodkova, IFC ESG expert, IFC ECA ESG Program Coordinator in Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina, shared the experience of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on investors’ approaches to ESG and noted what investors expect from the Boards of Directors in establishing ESG principles and standards in companies.

Igor Gut, the Managing Partner of DYB, shared his experience in creating Advisory Boards in Ukrainian and foreign companies, noting that the Advisory Board is the first step to building an effective Supervisory Board. I.Gut also touched upon such issues as: what is an advisory board, the standard and distinctive features of the supervisory and advisory boards. Also, together with I. Gut, the participants successfully worked on the issue of choosing a strategy for the development of a niche Ukrainian enterprise. The group work was in full swing, and the decisions of the simulated supervisory boards were exciting and sometimes very unexpected.

Maryna Saprykina, Chairman of the Board of the Center for CSR Development, an expert on CSR and sustainable development, focused the attention of the participants on ESG issues, namely, what awaits companies in the future in view of the full implementation of ESG principles and standards, and what the Supervisory Boards / Boards of Directors should prepare for in their primary activities.

Peter Zashev, Adjunct Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Director of Corporate Education Programs at Hanken School of Economics (Finland), and member of the Board of Directors of Alu-Releco International (Finland), together with the participants, reflected on the question of how the Board is the carrier of the company’s corporate culture and what exactly the Board needs to do in this direction. P.Zashev also focused on the role of the Board in compliance with the ESG principles, shared his experience in the fight for talents in Eastern Europe, and compared the Scandinavian and Eastern European experiences in most aspects of the Board of Directors’ activity..

Nadiia Vasylieva, Member of the Supervisory Board of JSC “CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK”, Independent Director, Member of the Supervisory Board of SE “Prozorro.Sale”, in her case study with the program participants focused their attention on ensuring diversity in the selection of CEOs, emphasizing that it is tough to avoid stereotyping in the hiring process, and especially when it comes to the selection and hiring of the company’s CEO, when decisions should be made collectively by all board members.

Oleksandr Onufrienko, partner at Asters, continuing the discussion on hiring the CEO by the board of directors, suggested that the participants decide on the right approach to signing a contract with the CEO and clearly define their responsibility to the company.

The partners in the implementation of this program were the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Institute, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the IFC’s Integrated Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Standards Program in Europe and Central Asia, implementing with the financial support of the Government of Switzerland (SECO), as well as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which in cooperation with partners provided scholarship support to some of the program participants. Among the participants, there are women leaders of Ukrainian businesses who have joined the program thanks to the support of the EBRD and financing from the Government of Sweden under the EBRD Small Business Fund (other donors: Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, and TaiwanBusiness – EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund, and the USA).