Better Boards
Better Boards is a boutique practice which offers a range of services to underpin Board effectiveness in terms of people, governance structures and processes. Our services include Board assessment and evaluation, Board composition, induction for Board members, optimisation of governance structures, team development including peer reviews, training and other services for Board sub-committees, coaching, director recruitment and personal branding for individual directors.
We are different because we balance authentic experience on diverse boards with models of best practice and have a track record of delivery. Our partners have all worked as both senior executives and non-executive directors in a wide variety of sectors. Our commitment to our clients is that one of our partners will deliver a bespoke service to them. Our combined experience allows us the capacity to interact and empathise across a broad spectrum and brings a diverse pool of contacts. We make our experience work for you so that you can have the best Board possible.
Our Beliefs
Our practice is one that delivers quantifiable improvements to Boards. Better Boards is founded on values of authenticity, commitment, professionalism, empathy for diversity and understanding of boundaries.
Our Services
Board Induction & Training
The partners at Better Boards are uniquely placed to support Boards in the induction and training processes because of their combination of extensive experience as Chairs of a number of Boards together with their knowledge of governance and regulatory frameworks, and their understanding of the human dynamics within Boards.
Board Evaluation
The partners in Better Boards combine their practical experience of serving on many boards and of conducting board evaluations with their knowledge of governance and regulatory frameworks to deliver insightful and actionable board evaluations that lead to quantifiable improvement.
Team Development
Better Boards’ partners academic and applied understanding of group dynamics, together with many decades of board memberships, make them uniquely qualified to lead team development programmes for Boards that aim to perform at a higher level in a quantifiable way.
Services for Sub-Committees
In addition to having acted as Board Chairs, Better Boards partners have direct experience of chairing all the major Board sub-committees (Audit, Risk, Remuneration, Nomination). They use this practical experience to design workable and effective solutions including terms of reference, training for sub-committee members, suggested reporting to the Board from sub-committees and annual agendas.
Board Governance Structures
High performing Boards have to find an appropriate balance between their strategic, operational and compliance roles. Better Boards can design an optimal governance structure using up to date knowledge of legislation and governance codes, experience of what works for different sectors and industries, and skill in discerning what will work for a particular Board.
NED Recruitment
Better Boards partners have the skills and experience from serving on Boards and Nominations Committees to identify what your Board needs from a new Director. Better Boards can find candidates using a lateral approach to searching a wide pool of possibilities from our network of contacts, thereby ensuring diversity by looking beyond the obvious sources. We have extensive selection and interviewing experience which allows us to provide a well-honed shortlist.
Coaching
Better Boards can support the provision of coaching services through its expertise in accredited coaching frameworks and its experience in coaching a wide range of senior executive and non executive personnel.
Personal Branding
Better Boards, working with a team of expert associates, assists individuals in achieving optimal impact. This one to one service is unique and conducted in a discreet and highly confidential manner. The aim is to achieve enhanced self awareness, self confidence and personal impact through a combination of digital profiling, influencing skills and techniques, and practical tips on dress and appearance.
Our practice is one that delivers quantifiable improvements to Boards. Better Boards is founded on values of authenticity, commitment, professionalism, empathy for diversity and understanding of boundaries.
Our Expertise
Bernie Gray
Bernie’s grounding in human resource strategic management in the public sector has been complimented by qualifications in finance, corporate governance and coaching, giving her a broad spectrum of expertise. Bernie has delivered tangible and enduring outcomes for clients which are practical, insightful and sustainable.
Bernie brings energy, enthusiasm and her full being to her work, delivering insights and impact to clients, Boards and voluntary organisations. Bernie has succeeded in her career at executive, non-executive and voluntary positions by combining her inherent skills and abilities with extensive training which has given her a broad spectrum of expertise.
Bernie’s unaffected personality and high emotional intelligence means she makes true friends wherever she works, and she is always in demand to return to clients for repeat assignments. She has built up an invaluable network of contacts and goodwill during her career to date, and her bandwidth in modes of intervention means she consistently delivers above expectations.
Bernie can be contacted at (01) 908 1650 or bernie.gray@betterboards.ie
Emer Daly
Emer brings a wealth of experience at both executive and non-executive level despite her relative youth and has worked at the highest level in a wide range of industries. She has developed a reputation for leadership in corporate governance particularly on audit and risk committees, and is recognised for her ability to deliver outcomes in challenging circumstances which require sophisticated and honed judgement together with focus and resilience.
Emer is enormously professional and very strategic, with the capacity to move from the strategic to the operational to test implementation plans and to identify inherent risk. At heart she is an innate businesswoman who possesses best in class financial skills with a flexibility and flair in customising these to the needs of companies in a broad range of sectors.
Emer is very much a team player, but she can also step outside the pack to assume leadership roles, underpinned by her integrity and consummate professionalism. Her professional standing testifies to the values she brings to her work, and she earns and retains the respect of those she works with.
Emer can be contacted at (01) 908 1650 or emer.daly@betterboards.ie
Niamh Cahill
Niamh is currently working as a free lance Legal Consultant providing legal and corporate governance advice to a range of organisations including advice to organisations in the not for profit sector in which she has a keen interest.
Niamh holds a BA (Hons) and LL B (Hons) and Barrister at Law degree. She has been called to the Bar in Ireland and the UK Bar (Middle Temple Inn). Niamh has 32 years experience of working in both the Private and State Sector in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK. She has also worked in the Community and Voluntary Sector for the past 10 years in a number of voluntary roles.
Niamh worked as Company Secretary for EirGrid Group, a state owned group of Companies, for the last 16 years and in that time she worked with three different Chairs and three different Chief Executives. As Company Secretary she provided independent assurances to the Board around compliance matters and established and oversaw the maintenance of a wide range of legal regulatory and corporate governance systems. Niamh also served as a Non–Executive Board member in a not-for-profit medium sized charity.
Niamh is naturally gifted at identifying creative cost effective solutions to enable organisations with limited resources to achieve a balance between ensuring robust corporate governance standards with ensuring the success of the organisation. She is particularly interested in assisting organisations shift their culture towards establishing solid corporate governance processes and procedure which will not only protect but also stengthen their brand and reputation. Her approach is always to be very practical and she always seeks the ‘simple’ approach without compromising compliance requirements. That way she gets excellent buy in from staff on the ground responsible for ensuring that organisation implements the processes and procedures necessary to be compliant.
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