Professor Malcolm Press CBE is Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University and President of Universities UK. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: The skills university boards need to add value (00:58) How boards can help timetable risk (04:09) What university boards can teach about managing multiple stakeholders (05:59) The three main issues university boards are facing today (10:23) Unlocking the financial conundrum universities face (14:22) When boards should collaborate rather than compete (18:13) The challenges and benefits of international expansion (22:47) Market research: a cautionary tale (24:34) How to make tech investment decisions as a non-expert (27:14) How to challenge a forceful CEO constructively (29:42) Why behaviour matters as much as skills when appointing a Chair (33:35) How to assess behaviour in candidates (34:46) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(35:37)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

David Sproul is Chair of Starling Bank and Chair of Pennon Group. Formerly, he was Deputy Global CEO of Deloitte UK. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Deloitte UK expansion: the toughest conversations David had with his board (00:46) How to reframe board risk discussions positively (03:28) Balancing logos and pathos when influencing (06:13) Should CEOs come to the board focused on upside or downside? (08:58) How the board helped improve David’s thinking about Deloitte’s expansion (12:02) How they helped give credibility and bandwidth to David’s strategy (15:41) The specific value independent directors gave David (18:01) Starling Bank: key lessons in chairing a high-growth business (22:48) How boards can help reconcile failing fast with regulatory scrutiny (25:59) Lessons from Starling Bank’s FCA fine (27:23) How to do due diligence on a company before accepting a board position (33:39) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:05)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Amanda Mackenzie OBE is NED at British Land and at Lloyds Banking Group, where she chairs the Responsible Business Committee. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Why Amanda first started non-exec roles (1:10) How she repositioned herself as a non-exec candidate (1:44) Crafting a compelling board CV (3:13) Why Amanda started with pro bono rather than paid roles (5:44) How she landed her first paid role (8:48) Networking hacks to build a plural career (9:56) How to identify and position yourself for the right board roles (12:23) How to demonstrate vertical and horizontal value in applications (19:28) How to gain influence as a new board member (27:44) Positioning ESG in board discussions (30:03) What happens when purpose collides with commercial pressure? (32:40) Should every board have a responsible business committee? (34:19) How boards create psychological safety (36:48) Balancing structure and free-thinking time in board agendas (38:31) The key ethical questions, challenges and risks of AI (43:05) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(46:53) 

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Sir James Wates CBE is Chair of the Rugby Football Union and Vestey Holdings Ltd. Formerly, he was Chair of Wates Group. Tune in to hear his thoughts: Key board-level decisions that helped grow Wates from 950m to 2bn revenues (02:20) How the board weighed the risks and benefits of increasing average transaction value (05:08) Key decisions the board used to assess risk (08:00) How the board decided when to quit and when to stick (10:03) CEO appointments: what’s worked and what hasn’t (14:02) Board succession planning: how to pick the right chair (18:11) How to handle redundancies as a CEO or Chair (22:45) The single governance practice Sir James would insist every family business adopt (26:12) Key lessons transitioning from a family to a fully independent chair (27:25) Independence versus centralisation in a group structure (30:21) Chairing the RFU: why Sir James took on the role and what it entails (37:54) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡ (41:34)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Phil Walker CBE is Chair of Council at the University of Roehampton and member of the England & Wales Cricket Board. Formerly, he was COO at Capgemini. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Phil’s journey into the boardroom (02:02) How university governance differs from corporate (03:15) Key stakeholders for higher education boards (04:23) Heuristics Phil uses to understand university boards (05:30) Key data points every education board should look at (07:45) Three defining moments that most shape how Phil operates as a board member (11:25) Lessons in crisis management from Covid (15:08) The role of summation in effective chairing (16:56) Why Phil thinks boards need to become less formal and more human (21:19) The board’s role in ethical decisions - why Roehampton banned fossil fuel companies from career fairs (26:04) How Phil’s thinking about AI (32:06) Advice for university board candidates (34:58)  How Phil thinks about board composition (36:40)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:10)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Rupert Soames OBE is Chair of the CBI and Smith & Nephew plc and  former CEO of Serco Group plc and Aggreko plc. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Key moments from Rupert’s time as CEO that shape how he Chairs (1:33) Lessons from Aggreko’s acquisition of GE’s energy rental business (3:42) Was there anything a board could have done to mitigate Rupert’s disagreement with the Misys CEO when he was a divisional manager? (5:33) When chairs added most value to Rupert as CEO (9:35) How Philip Rogerson, Aggreko Chair, said “no” without demotivating Rupert (11:37) How Rupert tries to help CEOs iterate and communicate strategy as a board member (17:09) The macro-trends Rupert’s focused on as a Chair (21:22) How Rupert thinks about CEO compensation in a global market (26:17)⚡The Lightning Round⚡ (30:07) Audience Q&A (36:54) The value of execs taking non-exec positions alongside their main role (37:07) Rupert’s thoughts on the value of board evaluations (38:18) Where boards need to professionalise further (40:02)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Natasha Frangos is Managing Partner of HaysMac. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Key moments in HaysMac’s growth (1:50) What board members can do when they feel too many people are having a say in decision-making (7:39) How boards needed to communicate when overseeing change (10:02) The respective roles of management and the board in developing and communicating strategy (11:17) How boards ensure they have internal candidates for CEO succession (16:58) Tash’s hardest challenges stepping up to CEO as an internal candidate (19:34) How a sector-first approach led to growth (22:38) The pros and cons of international expansion (25:43) How South African expansion unlocked talent pipeline (29:15) The role and nature of growth targets in scaling (31:38) How Tash thinks about financing risk and liquidity as the firm scales (34:35) Why HaysMac appointed independent directors and how they’ve added value (36:42) ⚡The lightning round ⚡(40:08) 

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Sir Douglas Flint CBE is chair of Aberdeen, IP Group and the Royal Marsden NHS Trust and former chair of HSBC Group Holdings and NED at BP. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: The most valuable lessons Sir Douglas has learnt from the chairs he’s worked with (2:07) How chairs build consensus - the example of BP Chair Peter Sutherland (4:45) How to handle a split board (7:26) Lessons from the boardroom in the BP Macondo crisis (13:11) What the crisis teaches board members about risk (20:37) What it teaches about stakeholder relationships (24:44) What it teaches about how boards can help CEOs during crises (26:44) The board’s rationale for the Standard Life Aberdeen to abrdn rebrand (31:21) Why the board decided to rebrand again to Aberdeen (38:13) Advice Sir Douglas would offer to a board member facing a rebranding decision today (39:27) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(42:11) 

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Mark Winlow is Chair of several financial services companies, including Aon UK and Redwood Bank. Formerly, he was Audit Chair at Starling Bank and NED at Tesco Underwriting, AIG Life Ltd, and others. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Three examples where insurance boards have changed the trajectory of their businesses (2:18) Non-execs transitioning to CEO (5:19) Mark’s heuristics for understanding insurance businesses (8:02) Three things every board member needs to understand to add value (12:34) Where board members need to go to understand people & culture (14:50) The relationship between insurance and bank boards and respective regulators (17:37) Why Mark decided to chair Redwood after the entire board had resigned (22:41) Starling Bank - the moment key execs left and founded Monzo (29:55) How Monzo out-marketed Starling (32:44) Why Mark thinks the tortoise strategy will beat the hare (34:05) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(40:16) 

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Professor Atewologun is the former Dean of the Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford and is currently the Founder and CEO of Delta, Advisor to the board of the Tearfund and Trustee at the Old Fire Station. In this conversation, we cover: What did the Parker review get right and where did it go wrong? (01:47) Is there a relationship between diversity and performance? (5:39) The difference between equity and equality, and when it’s right to pursue one versus the other (09:50) Should boards ditch DEI? (20:43) Practical examples of boards that get DEI right (29:07) Examples where they get it wrong (32:48) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(37:04)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom