I was pleased to be Moderator for this important session held on Friday March 20, 2020 @ 10:00-11:30am EST, hosted by the Governance Professionals of Canada. What are the risks facing businesses? What is the level of preparedness organizations should have, and what questions should boards ask? Now is a time for directors to avoid the weeds and carefully craft questions focussing on the key strategic issues. How should you govern, recognizing the steps prescribed for Canadian businesses in “An open letter from business leaders on limiting coronavirus’s spread” (March 17, 2020 Globe and Mail). Click below for a recording of this important Webinar, and to review the Open Letter from Business Leaders.
| GPC Webcast: Covid-19: Governance, Risk Implications, and the Role of the Board Friday, March 20th – 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT Click Here for a Recording of the Event COVID-19 has taken the world by storm. As this outbreak continues, we are seeing changes to the framework of organizations nation-wide. As this situation continues to evolve, governance professionals and Boards need information now to understand how to navigate the challenges ahead. Join us for an important conversation to address key questions and concerns on: -Preparing an enterprise risk process and contingency plan as this crisis situation develops -Questions the Board should be asking -Assessing critical risks; -developing action and control plans -Monitoring changes and streamlining reporting -Communication with stakeholders, reputation and managing the optics for your organization Panel: Moderator: Stephen J. Mallory, ICD.D, FCIP, CRM President, Directors Global Risk Consulting Inc./Advisor Benson Kearley IFG. M.E. (Peggy) Gilmour CPA, CA, CRMA, ICD.D Board Chair, Institute of Internal Auditors Andrew MacDougall Partner, Corporate, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Andrew Poprawa, CPA, CA, C. Dir., CGFM Former President & CEO, Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario Shona McGlashan , Vice-President, Governance, Vancity |
An open letter from business leaders on limiting coronavirus’s spread
On March 17, 2020, many of Canada’s top businesses published a letter in the Globe and Mail, defining for all enterprises in the country the steps that should be taken.
The Globe and Mail · 17 Mar 2020
The organizations and employers we represent compete fiercely every day. Today we stand united in a shared battle against COVID-19.
We urge every leader in the country to immediately shift focus to the singular objective of slowing the pace of transmission of this coronavirus.
International experience demonstrates that social distancing is the only effective method, and is in the best interests of our employees, their families and our communities.
While this will have significant economic impact on our businesses in the short term, it is critical to weathering this storm and will hasten the recovery.
Governments across the country have acted yet these measures will only be effective if all employers step up and do their part to protect the nation’s health and welfare.
The undersigned have taken important steps and urge your organizations to join us:
Urge your employees to stop all non-essential travel, whether for personal or business reasons. Travel exposes people to infection, increasing risk for their personal and professional contacts. Enable your employees to practise social distancing. Facilitate work-from-home for all noncritical business functions. Work with government, if necessary, to ensure sick pay for workers. Cancel any in-person gatherings or events. Ensure that mental-health services are in place to support those in need during a period of social isolation.
Maintain essential services to Canadians. In co-ordination with government, develop clear guidelines to protect the health of employees who provide critical services to the public. Understand that your employees are looking to you for leadership and trusted information in turbulent times. Share trusted advice from public health agencies and communicate consistently and clearly with your employees. Recap the latest guidance and show them what you’re doing to support it.
On behalf of all of us, including millions of colleagues and employees, thank you to all healthcare workers on the front lines on whom we are relying to help us through this emergency. We have enormous respect and gratitude for your efforts.
Wendy Andrushko – President,
DuPont Canada
Ayman Antoun – President, IBM Canada
John Baker – President and chief executive officer, D2L
Scott Balfour – President and CEO, Emera
Mark Barrenechea – Vice-chair and CEO, Open Text
Kevin Beingessner – CEO, Coril Holdings
Scott Bell – President and managing director, General Motors of Canada
Kilian Berz – Managing director and senior partner, the Boston Consulting Group
Mirko Bibic – President and CEO, BCE Inc. and Bell Canada Charles
Brindamour – CEO, Intact Financial
John Chen – Executive chairman and CEO, BlackBerry
Neil Chrystal – President and CEO, Polygon Homes
Donald Clow – President and CEO, Crombie REIT
Dean Connor – President and CEO, Sun Life
Guy Cormier – President and CEO, Desjardins Group
Ben Cowan-Dewar – Co-founder and managing director, Cabot Links
Keith Creel – President and CEO, Canadian Pacific Railway Stephan Crétier – President &
CEO, Gardaworld
Neil Cunningham – CEO and president, Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP)
Rola Dagher – President, Cisco Systems Canada
Thomas d’Aquino – Founding CEO, Business Council of Canada Dennis Darby – President and
CEO, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters
Dax Dasilva – CEO, Lightspeed POS
Daniel Daviau – President and CEO, Canaccord Genuity Group Marc de La Bruyère – Manag-
ing director, Maclab Development Group
Charles Deguire – President, CEO & co-founder, Kinova
Paul Desmarais III – Chairman and CEO, Sagard Holdings
Paul Desmarais Jr. – Chair, Power Corp. of Canada
Victor Dodig – President and CEO, CIBC
Ian C. Dundas – CEO, Enerplus Ian Edwards – President and CEO, SNC-Lavalin
Charles Emond – President and CEO, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)
Dawn Farrell – President and CEO, TransAlta Corp.
David Filipchuk – President and
CEO, PCL Constructors
Chris Fowler – President & CEO, CWB Financial Group
Gordon J. Fyfe – CEO, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
Louis Gagnon – President, Mercer U.S. and Canada
Sabrina Geremia – Country director, Google Canada
Russ Girling – President and CEO, TC Energy
Tim
Gitzel – President and CEO, Cameco
Blake Goldring – Executive chairman, AGF Management
Limited
Roy Gori – President and CEO, Manulife Financial
Christine Healy – President and CEO, Total E&P Canada Andrew Hider – CEO, ATS Automa-
tion Tooling Systems
Blake Hutcheson – President, OMERS
Goldy Hyder – President and CEO, Business Council of Canada Gord Johnston – President and
CEO, Stantec
Michael Katchen – Founder and CEO, Wealthsimple
Faisal Kazi – President and CEO, Siemens Canada
Hassan Khosrowshahi – Chairman, Persis Holdings Ltd.
Jeff Kinnaird – President, Home Depot of Canada
Patrick Lamarre – President, Kiewit Canada Group
Michael Latimer – CEO, OMERS Don Lindsay – President and CEO, Teck Resources
Stephen Liptrap – President and CEO, Morneau Shepell
Mark Little – President and CEO, Suncor Energy
Jon Love – CEO, KingSett Capital Marcelo Lu – President, BASF Canada
Elio Luongo – CEO and senior partner, Canada KPMG LLP Mark Machin President and CEO,
CPP Investments
Chuck Magro – President and CEO, Nutrien
Nicolas Marcoux – CEO and senior partner, PwC Canada Bharat Masrani – Group President
and CEO, TD Bank Michael McCain – President and CEO, Maple Leaf Foods
Mike McDerment – Co-founder and CEO, Freshbooks
David McKay – President and CEO, Royal Bank of Canada Gordon McKenzie – President and
CEO, Canpotex Ltd.
John McKenzie – Interim CEO, TMX
Al Monaco – President and CEO, Enbridge
Andrew Moor – President and CEO, Equitable Bank
Doug Murphy – President and CEO, Corus Entertainment
Joe Natale – President and CEO, Rogers Communications
Jeffrey Orr President and CEO, Power Corp. of Canada
Rob Peabody – CEO, Husky Energy
Kevin Peesker – President, Microsoft Canada
John Peller – Chairman and CEO, Andrew Peller Limited
Rob Penner – President and CEO, Bison Transport
Cole Pinnow – President, Pfizer Canada
Sam Pollock – CEO, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners
Brian Porter – President and CEO, Scotiabank
Alex Pourbaix – President and CEO, Cenovus Energy
Ricardo Prosperi – President, Canada Tenaris
Dani Reiss – President and CEO, Canada Goose
Michael Rencheck – President and CEO, Bruce Power
Hartley Richardson – President and CEO, James Richardson & Sons Ltd.
John Risley – Chairman and CEO, CFFI Ventures
Jean-Jacques Ruest – President and CEO, CN Rail
Jeffrey Russell – President, Canada, and senior managing director, Accenture
Steve Sammut – President and CEO, Rocky Mountaineer
Lino Saputo, Jr. – Chairman and CEO, Saputo
George Schindler – President and CEO, CGI Group
Sam Sebastian – CEO, Pelmorex Corp.
Bradley Shaw – CEO, Shaw Communications
Jad Shimaly – Chairman and CEO, EY Canada
Ian D. Smith – CEO, Clearwater Seafoods
Geoff Smith – President and
CEO, Ellis Don
Stephen Smith – Chairman and CEO, First National Financial David Smith – CEO, Keyera
Corp. Nancy Southern – Chair and CEO, ATCO Ltd.
Ronald Stern – President and CEO, Alberta Newsprint Company
Sandra Stuart – Group general manager, president and CEO, HSBC Bank Canada
John Sullivan – President and CEO, The Cadillac Fairview Corp.
Garrick Tiplady – Managing director, Facebook and Instagram Canada
Guy Turcotte – Founder, president and CEO, Stone Creek Resorts
Louis Vachon – President and CEO, National Bank of Canada Nicole Verkindt – Founder and
CEO, OMX
Anthony Viel – Managing Partner and CEO, Deloitte Canada Galen Weston – Executive chair-
man, Loblaw Cos. Ltd.
Darryl White – CEO, BMO Financial Group
Penny Wise – President, 3M Canada
Mark Wiseman – Founder,
FCLTGlobal
Mary Ann Yule – President and
CEO, HP Canada
Jeff Zweig – President and CEO, Mosaic Forest Management
Source: Globe and Mail, March 17, 2020
