Chairs from the PCF network have enthusiastically signed up to be mentors in the year long diversity mentor programme, where they will be partnered up with mentees drawn from a wide range of backgrounds. Robert Swannell CBE, Chairman of UK Government Investments (UKGI), has kindly written a few words describing UKGI, his experience and why he and UKGI look forward to welcoming a mentee to their board.

About UKGI

At UKGI we are the centre of excellence for corporate finance and corporate governance in Government. In practice that means we perform the shareholder and governance role for about 20 large Arm’s Length Bodies ranging from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Post Office, Highways England, UK Export Finance, Royal Mint, British Business Bank etc.

We also undertake sales of all non-core assets for the Government, for example stakes in Lloyds Banking Group, Student Loans Company and Eurostar. In addition we act on behalf of the Government on major interventions into the private sector, with recent examples including Carillion and Thomas Cook.

Our employees are almost equally drawn from the public and private sectors. Our Board is made up of seven independent Directors, the HMT second permanent secretary, the BEIS permanent secretary and the CEO.

My experience

I have spent all my professional life studying what makes for a functioning and a dysfunctional Board. My executive professional life was spent advising Boards in some of their most difficult and existential moments including takeovers and restructuring. This taught me what a difference good governance made to outcomes.

I joined my first FTSE100 Board in 1999, and was senior independent Director of that company, and another FTSE100 Company, as well as Chair of a major school, all whilst still a practicing investment banker. Following that period I was then asked to be Chair of Marks and Spencer, a role I held for seven years. I have served on the Boards of numerous other entities, and during that time I have professionally mentored many senior executives.

The mentee opportunity

With my experience of Boards and mentoring I would seek to distil my learnings about Boards and Governance for our mentee and supplement this with practical insights in the work of UKGI and its Board. My objective in working with a mentee is to help someone to understand the role of the Board and of a NED, make helpful relevant connections and improve the opportunity for the mentee to secure a NED role and also to fire them with enthusiasm for roles in the public sector.

With specific reference to UKGI, our mentee would be able to learn not only about how the Board of UKGI functions but also how we practice governance across the broad range of companies within our ambit. The intention is to give our mentee a real-life insight into a functioning Board, and also our processes for exercising governance of our portfolio companies.