Conference: Building and Sustaining Great Organisations

Stephen Carver is rated as one of the top three lecturers at one of Europe’s leading MBA Business Schools. He has a reputation of taking complex management concepts such as Project, Programme, Change and Crisis Management and being able to distil them down into highly informative and fast-paced lectures – often using “storytelling” techniques.

James E. Henderson is Professor of Strategic Management at IMD. Prior to joining IMD, he was an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Babson College and Babson School of Executive Education, based in Boston, MA. His areas of special interest are strategy under uncertainty, competitive strategy, corporate strategy, and strategy execution.

Professor Henderson helps companies achieve and sustain their competitive advantage either at a business unit, corporate or global level through directing custom specific executive programs, facilitating strategy workshops, or teaching MBAs and executives.

Matthew Ingle recently retired of Chief Executive of Howdens Joinery, a company he founded in 1995 with 14 depots and a first-year turnover of £1million. By 2018 the company had 720 depots, a turnover of £1.5billion and pre-tax profits of £250million. A company with a niche market selling kitchens direct to tradespeople, it is an example of a great organisation with an exciting vision, clear business plan, dynamic culture and high performing leadership.

Whitney Johnson is one of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world (Thinkers50) and an expert on disruptive innovation and personal disruption, a framework codified in the critically-acclaimed book Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work as well as the award-winning Build an “A” Team: Play To Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve. Her proprietary framework and diagnostics were developed after co-founding the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen.

Kent McMillan leads Accenture’s Global Organisation Practice where he works with executives to re-imagine their operating models and embrace transformational change in the digital age. He has over 18 years’ experience across industries, helping global clients to deliver on their growth, agility, productivity, and sustainability objectives through new operating models, organisation designs and people strategies. Kent is passionate about driving organisational performance, through next generation ways of working, data and the latest technology. He is called on by his clients and team for innovative thinking and the application of design thinking and analytics, recently receiving a US patent for Accenture’s organisation analytics and design platform.

Helen is an experienced Chairman, Board member, Board facilitator and Coach. She works across the range of FTSE, Professional Service, Private Equity and Family firms, where she has led some of the biggest Board Evaluations. Helen is also a coach to many leading CEOs, Chairman and NED’s. She was awarded an OBE for services to Business in 2015.

In addition to her Advanced Boardroom Excellence role Helen holds the following high profile Board roles: Chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, a Non-Executive Director at UB UK,    C & C Group Plc and Chairman of their Remuneration Committee and a member of the Nomination and ESG Committees.  SID at OneHealth Group Ltd and Chairman of the Remuneration and Nominations Committees.  President of INSEAD Directors Network Board (IDN) and a Chairman of INSEAD Directors Club Limited.   Helen is the President of KidsOut (a National Children’s Charity) and sits on the Advisory Board for Leeds University Law Faculty.

Helen was previously Chairman of the Queens Counsel Selection Panel until February 2017, Chairman pladis Advisory Board (United Biscuits, Godiva, Ülker Bisküvi) until April 2019 and a Board member and Remuneration Chairman for the CIPD until June 2019.

Helen holds an MA, LLB (Law), IDP-C (INSEAD International Director’s Programme – Corporate Governance Certificate).  She is the only Consultant in the UK Board Effectiveness arena to hold this INSEAD qualification.  She graduated from the INSEAD Strategy in the Age of Digital Disruption and Strategy for Accelerated Growth Programmes and the INSEAD Diversity Programme.  Helen is also an alumnus of the ground-breaking INSEAD Challenge of Leadership Programme.  She both attended and now features on the INSEAD Leading from the Chair programme.

Helen is a Fellow of the IoD, CIPD, CIM, RSA and a Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute.