Subsidiary Governance Summit

Ariel White-Tsimikalis is a corporate finance lawyer who specialises in equity capital markets transactions (including IPOs and secondary offerings), corporate governance matters and general public company representation. She has a particular interest in ESG and regularly advises listed companies on their ESG obligations.

Her listed client base is international and her experience spans a broad range of sectors including aviation, financial services, healthcare, hospitality & real estate, manufacturing, natural resources and TMT. In addition, Ariel has particular experience advising banks and other financial institutions, having spent time on secondment at global investment banks Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Citi.

Ariel is particularly active in the D&I space as part of her broader ESG practice. She currently serves as a Committee Member of the Women Lawyers Division of the Law Society of England & Wales and was recently elected to the Law Society’s Council. She is also a member of the Global Advisory Board of the Women in Law Economic Forum (WILEF).

Ariel is ranked in the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners and was included in Cranfield University’s 2020 list of “Top 100 Women to Watch” for FTSE board positions. She trained at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and subsequently spent over 10 years in the London offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell and Latham & Watkins. She will imminently join the London office of Goodwin Procter as a partner in the Technology & Life Sciences practices. She holds a Law & Politics Honours degree from the University of Edinburgh (2004) and was admitted as a solicitor in 2009. She is fluent in Greek.

Catherine joined bp in March 2020, having previously been in private practice. The first 14 years of her career were spent as a corporate lawyer, initially within M&A and then as a corporate structuring specialist at PwC where she grew her deep understanding and interest in legal entity structures and corporate governance within multinational groups. She then joined the Entity Governance and Compliance team within PwC and supported the growing need for robust corporate governance structures within the financial services industry.

Catherine also has a keen interest in the modernisation of the practice of law and using process improvement practices, underpinned by technology to the work of in-house legal departments and private practice lawyers alike. She was involved in the establishment of the New Law team within PwC and then spent 18 months as a senior legal project manager at Baker Mackenzie.

As head of subsidiary governance at bp, Catherine brings this breath of experience to her day to day work overseeing the entity governance and compliance of over 1000 legal entities globally (outside of the US and Canada).

Cerian Tahany is a Fellow member of CGIUKI. Cerian has 20 years of experience working as a Governance Professional, specialising in Financial Services. Cerian has spent her career providing end-to-end governance services to Boards operating in regulated environments, Cerian has supported the Boards of Worldpay, Barclays, Prudential, Allied Irish Banks (GB) and ED&F Man. Between 2018-2019, the Worldpay business was acquired twice, Cerian was the only Chartered Governance Professional on the deal team for both multi-billion dollar transactions. Cerian lives in London with her family.

Chloe is Deputy Company Secretary of Kingfisher plc. She joined Kingfisher in January 2019 from Sophos Group where most recently she was Group Company Secretary. Prior to that Chloe had been Group Secretariat Manager at BG Group for four years until its acquisition by Royal Dutch Shell in 2016. Before BG Group, Chloe had held roles at a number of UK listed companies, including Centrica, InterContinental Hotels Group, and Electrocomponents. Chloe started her company secretarial career at PwC.

Chris Butler is Head of Operations of Mercator, a member of the global leadership team whose primarily responsibility is for client service and operations. In this role he oversees service delivery to clients around the world. Based in Vilnius, Lithuania he has over 30 years of professional services experience including almost 10 years working for Mercator by Citco, preceded by more than 10 years as an audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Chris is a Chartered Accountant by profession and holds an MA Hons degree from Oxford University. Outside his roles at PwC and Citco, Chris helped set up and was elected Chairman of the Board of the British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania for multiple terms.

Colleen is a tri-qualified solicitor and founder of Ardea International, a specialist company that provides sustainability, business and human rights and modern slavery expertise to enable companies to meet both their legal obligations and develop voluntary best practice standards. She is a fellow of IEMA and a research fellow of the Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery and Abuse and a lecturer at Birkbeck University, London on human rights and business.

She has over 30 years of legal and commercial experience of working with business, organisations and NGOs across sectors and provides training and online resources on human rights, modern slavery and sustainability issues. Her book ‘Strategic Sustainable Procurement: law and best practice‘ is published by Routledge. She recently published a chapter ‘Modern Slavery and Transparency in Supply Chains- the Role of Business’ In The Modern Slavery Agenda: Policy, Politics and Practice in the UK’.

She has spoken widely on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, modern slavery and sustainable business.. She sits on the advisory board for LexisPSL Environment, is a committee member of the Social Responsbility Alliance and and is an independent member of the APSCA Disciplinary Board for Member Firms. She is nominated as one of the Top 100 Corporate Modern slavery influencers in the UK in 2018.

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Dan qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1997 and spent 10 years in private practice as a corporate solicitor, circa 2 years at Orange and 6 years at LogicaCMG (now part of CGI) the global IT consulting firm. For the last 10 years Dan has been at Renishaw plc, the upper quartile FTSE 250 global provider of manufacturing technologies & automation products. His current role involves managing the Cosec team across the typical cycle of annual matters, ranging from year-end and Annual report, AGM, filings, Corporate Governance Code 2018 compliance, share scheme & dealing policy, global entity management, Board & committee meetings & M&A. Dan has recently been running a global company secretarial advisor consolidation programme, with a big 4 accountancy firm.

David is co-owner of Indigo: independent governance which provides bespoke company secretarial and governance advisory services to companies across the UK. Prior to joining Indigo in 2021, David was Head of Global Entity Management services at KPMG supporting multinational clients with their subsidiary governance needs, and was previously a Partner at Makinson Cowell delivering corporate governance and investor relations advice to FTSE 350 businesses. David is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute and is also a Trustee of the Mulberry Schools Trust, a multi-academy trust based in east London.

Emma joined Foresight Group in 2016 and oversees the subsidiary governance of a number of LSE listed investment trusts and VCTs. She is responsible for the implementation of governance policies and strategies across a portfolio of infrastructure assets both in the UK and Europe.

Francesca is a Client Company Secretary at TMF Group Fund Services (Guern-sey) Limited. Francesca is tasked with the assurance of corporate governance within her team. Francesca’s experience within governance is within the finan-cial services sector and currently sits as the Company Secretary on her local Scouts association for the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

After completing the International Baccalaureate at her Local Grammar School, Francesca entered employment and began studying towards her ICSA qualica-tions at age 20. Prior to Francesca’s role at TMF Group Fund Services (Guern-sey) Limited, Francesca worked largely within the Private Equity and Real Es-tate sectors of Financial Services.

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Helen is an experienced Chartered Governance Professional with a background in the secretariats of listed international groups. She joined ITM Power in October 2020 as Company Secretary. Prior to that she worked for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Legal & General, WS Atkins and National Grid. Helen has been involved in many aspects of company secretarial work throughout her career, including supporting company boards and their committees, providing governance advice, ensuring listed company compliance, global entity management, production of the annual report, share plans administration, and supporting projects such as M&A, JVs and restructuring. Over the years, she has been responsible for entities across a large number of jurisdictions, including the Middle East and India, Asia Pacific, the US, Europe and others “in between”.

Henry joined Foresight Group in 2018 and is based in the London office. He is responsible for leading Foresight Group’s investment approach to sustainability and ESG, creating, integrating and embedding long-term sustainability strategies throughout all infrastructure investment activities across all asset classes. Prior to joining Foresight Group, Henry worked for the UK Ministry of Defence in a number of different project management and leadership roles, based both in the UK and overseas.

Hina Patel joined JPMorgan in September 2014 and is Company Secretary for its International Consumer and Merchant Services businesses in the UK. Prior roles at the firm have included Company Secretary to JPMorgan’s UK wealth management business and acting Company Secretary for JPMorgan’s Irish plc. Hina has also served as the Secretary to JPMorgan’s regulated and unregulated entities in the Channel Islands.

In addition to her board governance focus, Hina has also driven a number of cross-entity projects, including an EMEA initiative to enhance diversity on JPMorgan’s legal entity boards, and project lead on board governance in relation to a recent acquisition by JPMorgan.

Prior to joining JPMorgan, Hina was a member of Baker & McKenzie’s company secretarial team, where she was responsible for managing a portfolio of approximately 150 legal entities, including multinational corporations, as well as providing advice to clients on a range of governance matters. Prior to this, Hina held a similar role as a member of Mayer Brown’s company secretarial team.

Ian Burrell graduated from the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (now the Chartered Governance Institute UK and Ireland in 1993. During 25 years in the corporate secretarial profession Ian has worked for a major insurance company, a global law firm and a firm of accountants. In his last position before joining Diligent as the Product Compliance Manager for Entities, Ian was the Global Entity Practice Lead for the UK and Ireland at a global provider of corporate services.

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Experienced Director and Management Team Member with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Initiator in the development of Global Subsidiary Governance Services, developing this new field as a distinct discipline. Strong driver of product development in the financial and administrative services industry. Skilled in General Management, Change Management, Product Development, Private Equity and Real Estate and Mergers & Acquisitions.

Kevin currently serves as General Counsel and Company Secretary at PZ Cussons plc, an international manufacturer and distributor of consumer goods products focused on hygiene, baby and beauty categories. Home to brands such as Carex, Imperial Leather, Original Source and St. Tropez, PZ Cussons has over 130 years of continuous trading history and is a member of the FTSE 250 index. In his role, Kevin is responsible for the global legal, governance and compliance function. Prior to joining PZ Cussons in June of 2020, Kevin served as General Counsel for Vivo Energy plc and as Associate General Counsel and Company Secretary for Tullow Oil plc. In his earlier career, Kevin trained as a capital markets and M&A lawyer at leading firms in Canada before joining Ashurst LLP’s corporate team in Dubai.

Mark Babington is the Executive Director of Regulatory Standards at the Financial Reporting Council. He leads the division responsible for the FRC technical and public policy work covering audit, corporate reporting, corporate governance and stewardship, actuarial and the FRC Lab. The division also includes the FRC’s Investor and Stakeholder Engagement work. Prior to joining ExCo, Mark led the FRC’s UK Audit Policy programme, measures to support greater competition in the UK audit market and work to support the reform of international standard setting for auditors, by global regulatory authorities.

Prior to joining the FRC, Mark had a twenty-year career in audit and was a Director at the UK National Audit Office. Prior to that he was a technical advisor to a number of EU capacity-building programmes. He was also involved in the audit of the United Nations.

For five years, Mark was a member of the UK government’s counter-fraud taskforce. He is a former Chairman of the International Colleges of Auditors of a number of European defence-related organisations. Mark is an Independent Governor, Board Member and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, which is the UK public body dedicated to supporting democracy around the world.

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Meenakshi has 18+ years of progressive corporate legal experience - primarily leading/co-leading high value commercial transactions, international joint ventures, subsidiary governance, strategic alliances, setting up new businesses etc. During the course of her private practice career, which lasted until 2008, Meenakshi developed a proficiency in joint ventures and corporate governance. She moved in house in 2008 in Birla Soft and set up a strong compliance programme before joining Accor in 2010. Accor is into Development/ Management/ Operation of hotels worldwide having well known hotel brands i.e Raffles, Fairmont, Swissotel, Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Grand Mercure, ibis etc. As Legal Counsel, Meenakshi works closely with the Accor India Development team to provide legal support, develop and review deal structures and support hotel owner relations. She has been instrumental in implementation of compliance program and transparent Board procedures across various subsidiary and associate companies in the region. The different cultural experiences have helped build the person, lawyer and leader Meenakshi is today. Being able to develop a better understanding of each of the businesses she has worked in – beyond her role as lawyer – has also been a significant career highlight.

Melissa Kittermaster is Chief Executive of Asesoria Group, a professional services company specialising in Governance, Sustainability and Climate Change, and Leadership Services. She leads and is operationally responsible for Asesoria’s Board Effectiveness and Governance practice, Board Insight.

Following a successful executive career, Melissa has been advising boards of FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and large private organisations for over 20 years on a range of governance issues including board effectiveness, policy development and implementation, stakeholder engagement, workforce and diversity, and strategy development around a range of ESG issues, as well as how to report on these topics. She has undertaken projects across a wide range of industry sectors, including major multi-nationals and has an in-depth understanding of the issues faced by boards in managing risks, and integrating ESG into strategy and business practices.

She regularly engages with institutional investors and other key stakeholders to understand their expectations of corporate governance and ESG, to enable informed discussions with her clients. She also advises in the field of non-financial reporting, supporting companies to develop the narrative and Non-Financial Metrics/KPIs for sustainability reports and the non-financial elements of annual reports. Melissa’s expertise is in helping organisations develop practical solutions to ESG reporting, including how to gather and, interpret the data and use it to demonstrate an organisation’s progress against its commitments. This includes incorporating TCFD, SASB, GRI,< IR > and other frameworks into the company’s reporting.

Migle is part of the WeWork Corporate, Legal team that handles corporate governance and company secretarial matters globally. Prior to moving in-house, she has been in the professional services industry for over 12 years. Migle has extensive experience in coordinating complex global corporate legal compliance and cross-functional projects as a "single point of contact", setting up and mapping tailored global subsidiary governance frameworks as well as building teams.

Migle is currently completing the Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme at the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGI). She holds an LLM in International and European Union Law from the University of Bristol and an LLB.

Natalie qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2007 and has over 13 years’ experience advising businesses, organisations and individuals on corporate law and corporate governance matters.

Based in the North-West, Natalie is EU Group Company Secretary for Assurant, Inc., a Fortune 500 company which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Assurant partners with leading brands to provide consumers across the World with a range of protection products and services such as mobile device solutions, extended service contracts, vehicle protection services, renters insurance and lender placed homeowners insurance.

Natalie is responsible for ensuring the highest standards of corporate governance across Assurant’s legal entities and branches throughout the UK and the EU, many of which are regulated insurance and insurance intermediaries companies. In doing so, Natalie provides strategic governance advice to the EU Group Board in the UK and to subsidiary Boards across Europe. Natalie oversees robust corporate governance frameworks which meet local legal and regulatory requirements whilst also meeting the corporate governance requirements of the ultimate parent company.

Natalie is Co-Chair of Assurant’s UK employee forum and is a pro-bono supervising solicitor for The University of Chester’s Legal Advice Clinic.

Prior to Assurant, Natalie practised corporate law at Brabners LLP, a North-West law firm. Natalie acted for private businesses, financial institutions and individuals on a range of corporate matters including acquisitions and disposals, JVs, PE and VC funding and bank financing.

Stuart has been a civil servant for over 30 years, mostly in Companies House in a variety of roles covering operations, enforcement, policy and most recently setting up and leading the Intelligence and Enforcement Service at Companies House. In these roles, Stuart created and expanded a unit within Companies House to support law enforcement investigations into economic crime, delivered various digital filing projects and made significant regulatory and corporate compliance improvements. Outside work Stuart enjoys hiking, cycling and spending time with his young grandchildren.

Until June this year, Victoria was Group Company Secretary at Seadrill Limited. She has experience in a number of sectors, from offshore drilling, mining and engineering to leisure. She is skilled in corporate governance, project delivery and board leadership, having worked for major household names including Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, The British Land Company PLC, Royal Mail Group plc and Mitchells & Butlers plc.

Victoria has in-depth knowledge of the Institute, including as Vice-President and as a member of the Nomination and Remuneration committees. She served on the Audit and Risk Committee from 2014 to 2019, chairing it from 2016 to 2018, and until December 2018 served on the Qualifications Committee and Investment Subcommittee.