It would appear that IoD Jersey very much has a “new look” about it?
The feedback which I sought and received when first appointed as Chair of IoD Jersey was that the brand was in need of a refresh. My vision and objective for IoD Jersey is very much therefore to make IoD Jersey much more modern, vibrant, diverse and inclusive. This is in order to support our local community and to promote businesses in Jersey, whilst continuing with our core purpose of promoting the highest standards for corporate governance, through the IoD professional training programs. In this regard, I am very proud indeed of what we have collectively achieved as a team by working together over the last twelve months since my appointment and very grateful to all of those concerned.
What would you say are some of the highlights in this regard?
There have been several key ones but those which stand out for me are:
(i) Membership
We have increased our membership by 15% over the last twelve months, by reason of the overall team effort of the IoD Jersey Committee and the ten Sub-Committees.
(ii) Vice Chair
We have appointed a new Vice Chair, Natasha Egré of Marbral Advisory, who has been instrumental and incredibly effective both in this role, as well as Chair of the PR Sub-Committee, together with Jo Ferbrache and Yvonne Corbin, both of Betley Whitehorne Image (BWI), in the transformation of the “new look” IoD Jersey.
(iii) Branch Officer
In September last year, we appointed a replacement Branch Officer, Zoë Wauton, who has also been at the heart of this transformation and who has been a very welcome addition to the team.
(iv) Main Committee
We have increased the main Committee which presently consists of the following ten Sub-Committee Chairs, who are all highly esteemed in their respective fields:-
Mary Curtis (Professional Development)
Debbie Reeve (Students)
David Brown (Technology & Innovation)
Emiko Caerlewy-Smith (Diversity & Inclusion)
Sam Sturrock (Industry)
Natasha Egré (PR)
Dilly Wright (Environment)
Susan Clark (Corporate Governance)
Sam Wilkes (Events)
Julia-Anne Dix (Membership)
The finances of IoD Jersey are very well organised by our Treasurer, Alison Creed.
(v) Sub-Committees
Over the course of the last twelve months, we have more than doubled the number of our Sub-Committees, in order to ensure that we really focus on what is important to our local community.
In addition to the four key Sub-Committees already established (Professional Development, Students, Events, and PR), we have also established the Diversity & Inclusion, Technology & Innovation, Environment, Industry, Membership and Corporate Governance Sub-Committees.
The total number of main Committee and ten Sub-Committee members has grown substantially from approximately 15 to 65 members, within the course of the last year. My sincere thanks to all those concerned, for the significant amounts of time which they each give on a voluntary basis and overall for being a real team. It really is a case of collaboration at its best!
(vi) Events
We have hosted a number of events - details of which can be found on our website www.IoD.je and in respect of which we have received very positive coverage/feedback.
(vii) Sponsors
We are also delighted that we are continuing to attract more and more leading brands as sponsors of our events. This would appear to be due to the “new look” IoD Jersey which has been well received, as well as the significant increase of sub-committees and their respective activities. My sincere thanks to all of the sponsors for their continued support which is greatly appreciated.
(viii) Collaboration
We have collaborated with a number of other stakeholders over the course of the last year, in respect of several of our initiatives. In particular, Lean In Jersey as well as the Diversity Network. This has led to the launch of the Diversity & Inclusion Vision Statement (which will become a Charter in due course), and in respect of which we are very grateful to Government for its support also.
Also, with JT and Digital Jersey, in respect of the launch of our Technology Innovation Series.
(xii) IoD Guidelines
We are delighted in respect of the number of requests which we have received for a copy of the IoD Jersey Director Guidelines and which have been widely circulated to a number of businesses, as well as the Government of Jersey and the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
The Guidelines were prepared by former partners of mine from Bedell Cristin, Robert Gardner and Edward Drummond, and to whom IoD Jersey is very grateful for all of the hard work that went into revising them.
Further to the recent onset of COVID-19, we have produced the Guidelines by way of a pdf. These can be found in due course on our website www.IoD.je but in the interim, a copy can be obtained from our Branch Officer, Zoë Wauton.
(xiii) Website
The team and I are delighted with our new website (produced locally by BWI) which we launched recently, https://www.IoD.je and which we believe really captures the “new look” IoD Jersey, in that it is both modern, diverse, inclusive and vibrant.
(xiv) Newsletter
As with the old website, we also suspended our monthly newsletter, whilst we worked on a new look newsletter (also designed by BWI), and which also very much compliments our new look website.
It must have been quite a challenging few weeks for IoD Jersey with the onset of COVID-19?
None of us would ever have imagined that our lives and Jersey’s entire community, as well as globally, would have been altered in such an extraordinary way, as a result of COVID-19.
I would therefore like to pay tribute to the work which the Government, Jersey Finance, JT, Jersey Business, Digital Jersey and the other key stakeholders have done as this pandemic has reached our shores and for working tirelessly to help Jersey navigate its way through this crisis. As I have said from the outset of COVID-19, these are exceptional and challenging times for all concerned and fortunately, none of us have ever experienced an ever-changing situation and global pandemic on this unprecedented scale before.
So, what does the future hold for IoD Jersey?
Our resilience as an Island has been highlighted over the last few weeks and reinforces our highly regarded position as a jurisdiction and one which we need to strive to maintain. We recognise that IoD Jersey plays a vital role in our Island’s recovery process, where everyone can benefit and feel included.