Description:
Strong Anti-Corruption programs, overseen by the Board of Directors, can provide critical support for good corporate governance.
This webinar will address two themes that are integral to ESG:
1) Internal systems to effectively address corruption risk, particularly the role of the Board of Directors (BoD).
• What oversight should the BoD have?
• How can organizations successfully ensure the BoD has the capacity to perform this oversight?
• How can organizations successfully support the BoD? (effective Board committees, robust training of Directors, internal reporting systems, etc.)
• How can a BoD assess anti-corruption when establishing an organization's risk appetite?
2) How anti-corruption is reflected in ESG ratings, and if these are valid indicators of a corporation’s true ESG performance.
• Do ESG rating agencies address anti-corruption compliance? If so, how?
• How can agencies provide an ESG rating for an organization which is establishing, resourcing, or operating an anti-corruption system?
• How can an ESG rating agency assess the anti-corruption performance of the BoD?
This event qualifies for 2 CPD credits.
Our Panel:
• Moderator – Paul Townsend, Head of Risk & Audit Services, Atlas Corp. & Seaspan Corporation
• Amee Sandhu, Founder and Principal Lawyer, Lex Integra
• Sharon Singh, Partner, Regulatory and ESG, Bennett Jones LLP
• Christie Stephenson, Executive Director, Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics, UBC Sauder School of Business
Amee Sandhu, Founder and Principal Lawyer, Lex Integra
Amee is a Canadian leader in building ethics and compliance programs. She was formerly in the engineering and construction industries, with roles in the legal, commercial, and integrity departments, and became global head of compliance operations. She frequently speaks on corporate ethics, anti-corruption, and compliance, and is a teacher and guest lecturer in anti-corruption law, business ethics, and business law. Amee is a board member of Transparency International Canada, was a subject matter expert for Transparency International’s “Exporting Corruption” report, and a contributor to the 2020 book Great Women in Compliance.
Sharon Singh, Partner, Regulatory and ESG, Bennett Jones LLP
Sharon advises on regulatory, governance, environmental, water, and Aboriginal law to the infrastructure, mining, energy, and construction sectors. She guides organizations through impact/environmental assessments, agreements, and partnerships with Indigenous communities, ESG related disclosures, opportunities and risks, regulatory and environmental audits, and undertakes complex due diligence. She is actively involved with the community as Member of the Wet'suwet'en Community Advisory Council, as Senior Policy Advisor to the Mining Association of British Columbia, and the Association of Mineral Explorers. She is also active with the Business Council of British Columbia.
Christie Stephenson, Executive Director, Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics, UBC Sauder School of Business
Before joining UBC Sauder in 2016, Christie spent more than 15 years in the field of socially responsible and impact investing. She also serves on the boards of Vancity, Central 1, and the UBC Staff pension plan. She is a member of the Climate Governance Experts Network of the Canadian Climate Law Initiative, the Metro Vancouver Zero Emissions Innovation Centre’s investment committee, the British Columbia Securities Commission Corporate Finance Stakeholder Forum, and the International Impact and Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium.
Paul Townsend, Head of Risk & Audit Services, Atlas Corp & Seaspan Corporation
Paul is a Chartered Accountant (CA, CPA) and Certified Internal Auditor with over 30 years of experience in risk management, audit, and compliance. For 16 years he was the Chief Risk Officer, VP Audit, and Chief Compliance Officer for the Teekay Group of Companies, leading the global team responsible for Enterprise Risk Management, audit, and global anti-corruption efforts, including training and investigations. He was also Vice Chair of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) and past President of the Institute of Internal Auditors (Vancouver). Paul has advised many leading companies on implementing anti-corruption programs, and has spoken widely on Business Ethics and Compliance Best Practices.
For further supplemental reading on Environmental, Social, and Governance, see this excerpt in Global Corruption: Its Regulation under International Conventions, US, UK, and Canadian Law and Practice, 4th ed, 2022 by Daniela Chimisso dos Santos, titled "The ESG Movement", which can be viewed here:
The full book can be found on CanLII.
- Centre for Business Law
- General Public
- Continuing Professional Development
