Riverstone Leadership Monthly: December

This month we asked Chairs and Directors their thoughts on the big issues and questions for 2022. These were the top three:

We’ve been at a global fork in the road – are we heading for a big boom with the stimulation of growth around the world. Or are we headed for an eventual bust, with the trillions of dollars sloshing around the global economy sparking inflation.

Boards are focused on:

Making time to have the right conversations in the Boardroom

These need to be forward looking with enough time for debate.

Re-considering the profile of Directors

This could be an opportunity to add different skills that are required for the future.

Ensuring the right CEO is in place and supported

Finding someone who is both a growth and a turnaround leader can be difficult. Without knowing what will happen, boards are ensuring there is support and development in place for the CEO and executive team.?

Remote work and virtual meetings are likely to continue to some extent in 2022, but how do organisations get the culture humming again amongst the team?

Boards are considering elements such as:

Avoiding the worst of both worlds

Steering clear of all day Zoom meetings that are done from the office.

Balancing autonomy with mandating days

They are finding out what suits the industry and asking employees what is important to them

Being careful of the CEO shadow

What the CEO wants is not always the same for the rest of the team, Boards are engaging the entire senior team in decision-making

Boards we spoke to were grappling with the questions of how to grow again. The question of growth has many elements including strategy, leadership, culture and capability. The catch cry now though, is innovation. Some Boards are looking to the US and UK at lessons learned.

Decentralised finance, or DeFi, is a system by which financial products become available on a public decentralised blockchain network. That makes them open to anyone to use, rather than going through middlemen such as banks or brokerages. Smart contracts automate agreement terms between buyers and sellers, or lenders and borrowers, to make these financial products possible?using cryptocurrency as collateral.

The market capitalisation of the Decentralised Finance?(Decentralised finance is changing the game (afr.com)?sector peaked in mid-May at $US150 billion, up from $US5 billion a year earlier. The signs are pointing to disruption of financial intermediaries.

What does this mean for Corporate Australia:

1. Regulators may need to build or buy in capability to get across the sector before they are deemed to be ‘asleep at the wheel’.
2. We may see a need for speciality decentralised finance leaders who understand global markets, are across trends in the US, Europe and Asia and can translate that for Australians
3. Finance leaders will need to be upskilled at pace before they are disrupted

Article:?What is decentralized finance? An expert on bitcoins and blockchains explains the risks and rewards of?DeFi

• Brian Hartzer has been appointed Chair of Reejig
• Yasmin Allen has been appointed Chair of Tic:toc
• Rubin McDougal has been appointed Chair Boart Longyear Group Ltd
• Terry Davis has been appointed Chair of Seven Group Holdings Limited
• Colin Murray has been appointed Chair of the Infrastructure Australia Board
• John Welborn has been appointed Chair of Fenix Resources
• James MacKenzie will resume his role as Chair of Slater & Gordon
• David Friedlander has been appointed Chair of the King Wood & Mallesons’ Australian practice.
• Warwick Smith AO has been appointed Chair of the Council of the National Museum of Australia
• Penny Fowler has been appointed Chair of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia
• Melanie Allibon has been appointed Chair of Chair of Boom Logistics
• David Foster?has been appointed Chair of G8 Education
• Martin Buckingham has been appointed Executive Chair of Celsius Resources
• Troy Flannery has been appointed Chair of Red Mountain Mining
• Raymond Shorrocks has been appointed Executive Chair of Cygnus Gold
• Steven Apedaile has been appointed Chair of Sprintex
• Jenny Josling has been appointed Chair of Orbis Investment Advisory
• James Eggins has been appointed Chair of Kopore Metals
• Bob Vassie has been appointed Chair of Ramelius Resources
• Nicholas Curtis AM has been appointed Chair of Northern Minerals
• Andrew Pickering?has been appointed Chair of Global Energy Ventures
• John Welborn has been appointed Chair of Fenix Resources
• Simon Maddocks has been appointed Chair of Primary Producers SA
• Glenys Beauchamp has been appointed Chair of Food Standard Australia New Zealand
• David Flanagan has been appointed Executive Chairman of Battery Minerals
• Vince Hughes has been appointed Chair of Crime Stoppers Australia
• Krista Bates has been appointed Interim Chair of AusCann
• Geoff Pritchard has been appointed Chair of icetana
• James Manders has been appointed Chair of RPH Australia
• Andrew Fairley has been appointed Chair of Qualitas Group Advisory Board

• Arlene Tansey, Michael Schaper and Julie Cooper have been appointed to the Board of AICD
• Alistair Muir and Gerd Schenkel have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of Genworth Mortgage Insurance
• Carolyn Kay has joined the Foreign Investment Review Board and Deborah Ralston has been appointed for a five year term
• Damien Frawley has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Mirvac Group
• Adam Gee has been appointed to the board of ASFA
• Judith Swales has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Super Retail Group
• Phillip Christopher has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Cellmid
• Chris Whitehead has been appointed Non-Executive Director of IMB Bank
• Donna Player and Mark Bayliss have been appointed to the eTail group
• Damian Banks and James Scott have been appointed as Non-Executive Directors of Boom Logistics
• Debra Singh and Toni Thornton?have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of G8 Education
• Steven Sargent has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Ramsay Health Care
• Su McCluskey has been appointed Non-Executive Director of LiveCorp
• Susan Hansen, Sophie Ray and John Manning have been appointed to the Board of The GO2 People
• Michael Hulmes and Julito Sarmiento have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of Celsius Resources
• Fiona Murdoch has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Ramelius Resources
• Joseph Chou has been appointed to the board of Bricklet
• Justin Osborne has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Anglo Australian Resources
• Kee Wong has been appointed Non-Executive Director of InvoCare
• Morten Falkenberg has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Ansell
• Scott Lawson has been appointed Non-Executive Director of AngloGold Ashanti
• Wayne Kent has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Australian United Investment Company
• Lars Engstrom, Paul McDonnell, Thomas Schulz and Bao Truong have been appointed as Directors of Boart Longyear Group
• Richard O’Shannassy has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Focus Minerals
• Michael Kelly has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Cleanaway Waste Management
• Neville Power and Michael Bowen have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of Genesis Minerals
• Simon Kidston has transitioned from the role of Executive Director to Non-Executive Director of Genex Power
• Garth Campbell-Cowan has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Navarre Minerals
• Robyn Elliott and Neville Gardiner have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of Proteomics International Laboratories
• Bryan Gray has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Tissue Repair
• Louise Thurgood has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Silk Logistics Holdings
• Tracy Matthews and Beth Mathison have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of Forico
• Bernadette Harkin has been appointed Non-executive Director of Archer Materials
• Nerida Caesar has been appointed Non-Executive Director of NBN Co
• Elizabeth Stoner has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Arovella Therapeutics
• Ian Silk has been appointed as a Special Advisor to KPMG
• David Raper and Garry Duursma have been appointed to the Advisory Board of BTC Markets
• Alan Tate has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Emmerson Resources
• Rod Johns has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Focus Minerals
• Andy Weir has been appointed to the Advisory Board of ABN Group
• Frank Bierlien has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Blackstone Minerals
• Chris Bergstresser and Cameron Adams have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of Mogul
• Nathan Hagarty has been appointed Employer-Nominated Director of Active Super
• Nick Fels has been appointed to the Board of Financial Services Council
• Simon Jackson has been appointed?Non-Executive Director of Kopore Metals
• Sandra Hook has been appointed Non-Executive Director?of Redhill
• Ashish Katta has been appointed Non-Executive Director of icollege
• Liane Buck has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Ochre Health
• Rachel Rees has been appointed Non-Executive Director of MACA
• Robyn Elliott and Neville Gardiner have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of Proteomics International Laboratories
• Charles Fear and Bradley Denison have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of Swift Media
• Jonathan Downes has been appointed Director of Cazaly Resources
• Trevor Matthews has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Resource Mining Corporation
• Steven Michael has been appointed Executive Director of Vimy Resources
• Gregory Meyerowitz has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Deep Yellow
• Michelle Woolhouse has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Develop
• Karyn Balis has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Elanor Investors Group
• Shri Somnath Nandi has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Legacy Iron Ore
• Debbie Alliston has been appointed to the Advisory Board of Pella Funds Management
• Kurt Fearnley has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Life Without Barriers
• Jo Brennan has been appointed Non-Executive Director of Adara Development
• Vicki Meyer, Vonette Mead, Amanda Copper, Vanessa Guthrie, Elizabeth Schmidt and Robert Moffat have been appointed Directors of Infrastructure Australia’s Board
• Wyatt Roy has been appointed Director of the Tech Council of Australia
• Anita Jacoby has been appointed to lead the ABC Advisory Council
• Mary Ploughman and JoAnne Stephenson have been appointed Non-Executive Members of Qualitas Group’s Advisory board

• Brett Redman has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Transgrid
• Kylie Rampa has been appointed Chief Executive of QIC
• Cynthia Scott has been appointed Chief Executive of Zip
• Sean Hehir has been appointed Chief Executive of Brainchip Holdings
• Alf Ianniello has been appointed Chief Executive of Codan
• Rebecca Hanley has been appointed Managing Director, Australia of Laing O’Rourke
• Justin Madden AM has been appointed Chief Executive of RWA
• Warren McDonald AO, CSC, has been appointed Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand
• Rennae Lattey?has been appointed Chief Executive Partner of King Wood & Mallesons’ Australia
• Steve Whetton has been appointed Chief Executive of the Office of the South Australian Productivity Commission
• Michelle?Baxter has been appointed Chief Executive of Safe Work Australia
• Darren Stralow has been appointed Chief Executive of Bellevue Gold
• Allan Savins has been appointed Interim Chief Executive, Banking Division BNK Banking Corporation
• Jean-Sebastien Boutet has been appointed Chief Executive of Canyon Resources
• Mark McGinley has been appointed Chief Executive of Freelancer
• Mark Reid has been appointed Managing Director of Global Payments Australia and New Zealand
• Simon Lawson has been appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive of Gascoyne Resources
• Grant Hudson has been appointed Chief Executive of Globe Metals & Mining
• Pete Connors has been appointed Chief Executive of Vita Group
• Dean O’Halloran has been appointed Chief Executive of Tresidder Insurance Group
• Craig de Laine has been appointed Chief Executive of Australian Gas and Infrastructure Group
• Michael O'Rourke has been appointed Chief Executive of Stanwell
• Stefan Murphy has been appointed Managing Director of CZR Resources
• Darren Simpson has been appointed Chief Executive of Tennis NSW
• Jason Murray has been appointed Chief Executive of Spirit Super
• Matt Walsh has been appointed Director of Defence Health
• Jean-Sebastien Boutet has been appointed as Chief Executive of Canyon Resources
• Dr. Adam McKinnon?has been appointed Managing Director of Magmatic Resources
• Andrew Ferrier has been appointed Managing Director of Okapi Resources
• Cathy Falkiner has been appointed Managing Director of JFD Australia
• Chris Jamieson has been appointed Chief Executive of Jade Gas
• David Casey has been appointed Managing Director of Galilee
• Jessica Redwood has been appointed Chief Executive of Children First Foundation
• Greg Johnson has been appointed Chief Executive of Youngcare
• Matthew Rowe has been reappointed as Chief Executive of CountPlus
• Todd Nelson has been appointed MD Australia of Cover-More