Guest: Professor Mervyn King
Date and Time: 15 June 2022, 18:00 BST
About the Event:
The session’s title says it all: what corporate thinking was in the past and where it is headed in the future, its shaping forces and how this transition plays out in reality. Do we need new behaviours, new capabilities, a new language, new roles, and new laws?
In this session moderated by CUSISS' Director Governance, Dr Eelco Fiole, Professor Mervyn King SC will share deep insights on all of these questions and more and will highlight where the discussion on ESG is going, and where and how we are able to and even are called upon to make a real contribution towards a sustainable society.
Speaker Biography:
Mervyn King is a Senior Counsel and former Judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa. He is Professor Extraordinaire at the University of South Africa on Corporate Citizenship, Honorary Professor at the Universities of Pretoria and Cape Town and a Visiting Professor at Rhodes.
He has an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Universities of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and Leeds in the UK, an honorary Doctorate from Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia and an honorary Doctorate in Commerce from Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
In July 1993 the Institute of Directors in South Africa asked King to chair the first official committee on corporate governance. The King Committee on Corporate Governance issued its first report (King I), a comprehensive code of corporate practices and conduct which was the first of its kind in South Africa. In 2002, when the UN Earth Summit was held in Johannesburg, King pushed for a revision of the report (King II), including new sections on sustainability, the role of the corporate board, and risk management. The report was further revised in 2009 (King III). Compliance with the King Reports is a requirement for companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The King Report on Corporate Governance has been cited as "the most effective summary of the best international practices in corporate governance”. King now holds the position of Chair Emeritus of the King Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa.
He is Chair Emeritus of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) in London and of the Global Reporting Initiative in Amsterdam and a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group to the World Bank on Corporate Governance. He chaired the United Nations Committee of Eminent persons on Governance and Oversight and was President of the Advertising Standards Authority for 15 years and a member of the ICC Court of Arbitration in Paris for seven years. King is also Chair of the Good Law Foundation.
He is chair of the African Integrated Reporting Council and chair of the Integrated Reporting Committee of South Africa.
He has received Lifetime Achievement Awards for promoting quality corporate governance globally from the ICGN, the Asian Centre for Corporate Governance, the Indian Institute of Directors and the Regenesys Business School. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Commerce, honorary fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales; of the Institute of Internal Auditors of the UK; of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants; of the Certified Public Accountants of Australia; of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations of the UK, of the Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and a Chartered Director of South Africa.
He has been a chair, director and chief executive of several companies listed on the London, Luxembourg and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges.
He has consulted, advised and spoken on legal, business, advertising, sustainability and corporate governance issues in over 60 countries and has received many awards from international bodies around the world including the World Federation of Stock Exchanges and the International Federation of Accountants.
He is the author of five books on governance, sustainability and reporting, the latest being “The Auditor. Quo Vadis.”