CEO Memo: Meeting 2024 with bold new plans

By: Megan Motto FGIA FCG, Chief Executive Officer, Governance Institute of Australia

As we officially kick off 2024 at the Governance Institute, I am delighted to share with you our bold plans to take our education and training to the next level with the launch of our new Governance Academy.

For over a century, the Governance Institute has been at the forefront of championing governance excellence through its education, advocacy and engagement with our members and the broader community.

This year, we are taking the next step in our mission with the Governance Academy — a truly significant milestone in the long history of our organisation. As many of you have either been recipients or indeed facilitators and teachers of our governance training and education offerings, gathering our tremendous expertise and experience under the one umbrella is something that after many years and months of planning, our team has finally brought to fruition.

For a long time, we kept our accredited postgraduate courses separate from our non-accredited short courses and certificates, as our reputation has been built on being the only Australian provider of Chartered Governance accreditation. But to further the knowledge of a fast-growing cohort of governance and risk management professionals, many of whom fall outside the traditional role of company secretary, it’s vital that the Institute leads the way in the delivery of governance education more holistically to enhance our training a rapidly changing environment.

What our new Governance Academy will do to enable this is to create new educational pathways with a focus on proficiency at all stages of a career in governance — from entry level to expert. We know that employers can’t always find the workers with the required skills and capabilities needed to adapt to emerging issues and technological and legislative change.

We have conducted extensive evidence-based research around the developing needs of professionals and employers. Respondents to an independent survey conducted on behalf of the Governance Institute highlighted shifts towards outsourcing governance and risk management roles to independent advisors, reflecting the importance of unbiased guidance in decision-making.

As a tertiary institution, the Governance Academy will also pave the way in taking a more pro-active approach to generating new governance knowledge and research through specific partnerships with leading academics as well as the opportunity for students to continue their growth through to a Masters degree.

This is just the beginning of a two-to-five-year strategic plan for the organisation and our education branch which is the cornerstone of our mission. There will be more exciting initiatives to come, and you can stay up to date with all the developments through our social media channels and the website.

You can read more details about the Governance Academy in article in this month’s journal with an edited version of a recent webinar featuring Professor Michael Adams, Governance Institute Director and Head of the Education Committee, and Mark Wilbourn, General Manager of Education.

We are also very excited to reveal our new Governance Academy logo with you all — our good governance hummingbird we are affectionately calling Nancy (from goverNance). Some people may be aware there is actually a secretary bird. It’s a South African bird, but as a non-flying bird of prey, it didn’t translate to the modern-day image we were after! The hummingbird however, is one of the few birds that can fly in any direction, moving very quickly with great versatility. If you look closely, you can see the beak and the tail breaking free of the shield. For us, that idea of gaining knowledge and moving on to make a difference is very dynamic and precisely the vision we have for all of our members, students and for the Governance Institute.  Insert logo of Governance Academy

I wish you all the best for a successful and prosperous 2024.

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