National Grid 2014 Annual Report Download - page 58

Corporate
Governance
continued
Appointment processes
Non-executive Director
The recruitment process undertaken for the appointment of
Therese Esperdy was formal, rigorous and transparent. The
Nominations Committee appointed Korn Ferry as the search
consultancy, and the following process was undertaken:
• a role profile was prepared against which potential candidates
were considered;
• Sir Peter Gershon interviewed an initial list of candidates, from
which a shortlist of preferred candidates was selected;
• Maria Richter, Mark Williamson, Steve Holliday and Andrew
Bonfield interviewed the shortlist of candidates and provided
feedback to the Committee;
• the Committee considered these views in its deliberations
before recommending a preferred candidate to the Board; and
• the Board approved the appointment as recommended.
In addition to providing external search consultancy services
totheCompany, a subsidiary of Korn Ferry provides external
coaching to senior managers in the US.
Executive Director
John Pettigrew’s appointment to the Board as an Executive
Director had been envisaged for some time. His executive career
with the Company has been guided to make sure that he has
experience of multiple parts of the business. His readiness and
suitability for appointment to the Board was assessed by an
external consultant.
As part of the appointment process, John Pettigrew was
interviewed individually by Sir Peter Gershon, Mark Williamson,
Jonathan Dawson and Ruth Kelly. The feedback from these
meetings was discussed by the Committee before agreeing
torecommend John’s appointment to the Board. The Board
approved the recommendation to appoint John as an Executive
Director. John’s role has not changed following his appointment
tothe Board.
Board diversity and the Davies Review
At National Grid, we believe that creating an inclusive and diverse
culture supports the attraction and retention of talented people,
improves effectiveness, delivers superior performance and
enhances the success of the Company.
Our Board diversity policy promotes this and reaffirms our
aspiration to meet and exceed the target of 25% of Board
positions being held by women by 2015, as set out by Lord Davies.
We currently have 28% women on our Board, which will change
to25% on the departure of Maria Richter and Nick Winser,
and20% women on our Executive Committee.
The number of women in senior management positions and
throughout the organisation is set out on page 41 along with
examples of the initiatives to promote and support inclusion
anddiversity throughout our Company.
During the year the Committee reviewed the Board diversity policy
and progress made. It also discussed and agreed the following
objectives to support the implementation of the policy:
• the Board aspires to exceed the target of 25% of Board
positions to be held by women by 2015;
• all Board appointments will be made on merit, in the context
ofthe skills and experience that are needed for the Board to
beeffective;
• we will only engage executive search firms who have signed
upto the voluntary code of conduct on gender diversity;
• where appropriate, we will assist with the development
andsupport of initiatives that promote gender and other
formsofdiversity among our Board, executive and other
seniormanagement;
• where appropriate, we will continue to adopt best practice
inresponse to the Davies Review;
• we will review our progress against the Board diversity
policyannually;
• we will report on our progress against the policy and our
objectives in the Annual Report and Accounts along with details
of initiatives to promote gender and other forms of diversity
among our Board, Executive Committee and other senior
management; and
• we will continue to make key diversity data, both about the
Board and our wider employee population, available in the
Annual Report and Accounts.
Progress against the objectives and the policy will be reviewed
annually and reported in the Annual Report and Accounts.
Theimplementation of a successful diversity policy will need to
bemeasured over a period of some years during which the size
and shape of the Board may change to support the business.
Executive Committee
Led by the Chief Executive, the Executive Committee oversees
thesafety, operational and financial performance of the Company.
It is responsible for making day-to-day management and
operational decisions it considers necessary to safeguard the
interests of the Company and to further the strategy, business
objectives and targets established by the Board. The Committee
plays an important role in the development of our people and in
driving a high-performance culture.
It approves expenditure and other financial commitments within its
authority levels and discusses, formulates and approves proposals
to be considered by the Board.
There are currently 10 members on the Committee. They have a
broad range of skills and expertise, which are updated through
training and development. Some members also hold external
non-executive directorships, giving them valuable board experience.
On a quarterly basis the Committee receives an inclusion and
diversity scorecard which sets out statistics from the business
atall levels in the UK and US. Progress against our aspirational
inclusion and diversity targets is reviewed on an annual basis.
The Committee officially met 12 times this year, but the members
interact much more regularly. Those members of the Committee
who are not Directors all regularly attend Board and committee
meetings for specific agenda items with Alison Kay, Group General
Counsel & Company Secretary, being secretary to the Board and
Nominations Committee. This means that knowledge is shared
and every member is kept up to date with business activities
anddevelopments.
56 National Grid Annual Report and Accounts 2013/14