With a background in financial services, wealth management and investment management Rachel sat on the board of a company listed on the London Stock Exchange for several years as an independent NED and currently sits on three committees in Australia - a finance, audit and risk committee and two investment committees.
Rachel recently completed WOB’s The Boardroom School, presented by Margot Foster and said the case studies, discussions and hearing different perspectives from other participants were what distinguished this ‘hands-on’ program from other governance training courses.
“What really attracted me to the Boardroom School was the practical nature of the content. I've done a lot of formal training in my career, including the AICD course. And while that was very useful it’s more of a course where you sit and the content is delivered to you. Whereas the Boardroom School is very interactive, practical and hands-on.
“There are lots of case studies and discussions and you’ve got Margot giving her experience and her tips.”
Rachel said she enjoyed the mentoring elements which Margot offered throughout the sessions. “This is something you just don't get in your traditional classroom learning type courses that I've done to date. For me that was a very big plus.”
She said the case studies were relevant, contemporary and continuously updated, bringing up issues that are topical for people who are on boards or aspiring to be on boards, or are in exec roles working with boards.
“The case studies generated some really useful discussion and conversations and what was really valuable for me was the different perspectives coming from the people in the group. It was a safe space in which everyone felt able to contribute. There was no such thing as a silly question or a silly idea.
"Everyone freely volunteered ideas and information and experiences. And I learned a huge amount from that because everyone in the group was at a different stage of the journey. The breadth of experience that people were able to bring to the discussion was immense. And you just don't get the opportunity to tap into that in everyday life.”
Rachel said participants would discuss any challenges. “We were able as a group, to talk through those challenges, to volunteer our own experiences or ideas. It was great that people felt able to share the challenges that they were experiencing and that other people were able to contribute.
She added that the Boardroom School is a course you could do more than once. “Everyone's on a journey. You can come back when you're in a different stage of your journey. And this is a course that you can come back to and dip into along your boardroom career and really get a lot from.”
The Boardroom School starts 2 May. Register HERE