National Grid 2014 Annual Report Download - page 57

Strategic Report Corporate Governance Financial Statements Additional Information
Matters considered
Examples of matters the Nominations Committee considered
during the year include:
• Non-executive and Executive Director appointments, see page
56 for details of the processes;
• the successor as Senior Independent Director to Ken Harvey;
• Board and committee membership following changes to the
composition of the Board;
• the executive succession planning process focusing on the
identification, development and readiness of successors to the
Executive Committee in particular; and
• review of the findings from the Board evaluation, see page 46
formore information, and discussion of the Committee’s
performance.
Committee membership and attendance
Committee membership during the year and attendance at
meetings is set out below. Attendance is expressed as the number
of meetings attended out of the number possible or applicable for
the individual Director during the year to 31 March 2014.
Name Attendance
Sir Peter Gershon (chairman) 6 of 6
Philip Aiken 6 of 6
Nora Mead Brownell 6 of 6
Jonathan Dawson 6 of 6
Therese Esperdy11 of 1
Paul Golby 6 of 6
Ruth Kelly 6 of 6
Maria Richter 6 of 6
Mark Williamson 6 of 6
Ken Harvey21 of 1
George Rose21 of 1
1. Therese Esperdy was appointed to the Committee with effect from 18 March 2014.
2. George Rose and Ken Harvey stepped down from the Board with effect from 29 July 2013.
Nominations Committee
Role
Responsible for considering the structure, size and composition
ofthe Board and committees, and succession planning. It also
identifies and proposes individuals to be Directors and executive
management reporting directly to the Chief Executive, and
establishes the criteria for any new position.
Review of the year
The Board is now in the final stages of its phased transition that
commenced in 2011. Most recently we have welcomed Therese
Esperdy and John Pettigrew to our Board and, following the AGM,
Maria Richter will be stepping down from theBoard. Nick Winser
will also step down from the Board at this time, but will continue
inhis role as President of ENTSO-E and Chairman of NGET and
NGG until July 2015 when he will be leaving the Company.
Following the changes in Board membership, the composition
ofthe committees was reviewed and updated to reflect the new
balance of skills, knowledge and experience on the Board.
Diversity of background, thinking styles and expertise have been
important criteria in the transition of the Board. During the year
theCommittee reviewed our Board diversity policy. Progress
against the policy was discussed and objectives to support
theimplementation of the policy were agreed, see page 56 for
more details.
The Committee agreed that the first objective should be to
continue to meet, and aspire to exceed, the target of 25% of
Boardpositions to be held by women by 2015. I look forward
toreporting on our progress next year.
Succession planning below Board level is also important.
During the year the Committee with the Chief Executive reviewed
the Executive Committee timeline and succession plans, rather
than these being considered by the Board, to allow for a more
open discussion. The presentation focused on succession cover
to address the key risks and actions identified by an external
assessment.
Sir Peter Gershon
Committee chairman
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