Governance Hot 100 Winners

Lifetime Achievement Award

Until March 2023 Rosemary was, for 13 years, Group General Counsel & Company Secretary at Vodafone Group Plc, a multinational telecoms company with €38bn revenues and over 100,000 employees. She was a member of the Group’s executive committee, with a focus on managing risk, legal matters, privacy, compliance and governance. Rosemary is Acting Chair of Council at the University of Sussex and a charity trustee

Prior to Vodafone, Rosemary was General Counsel and Company Secretary of Reuters Group Plc which she joined in 1997 having been a Partner in Rowe & Maw (now Mayer Brown) a law firm in London. She was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1985. Rosemary has worked with Chairmen to build high performing boards and to ensure the highest levels of governance. She has extensive experience in board committees including Audit & Risk, Nominations, Remuneration and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG).

Throughout her executive career Rosemary championed inclusion and innovation in the legal and governance profession. She also led philanthropic activities in Vodafone Foundation and Reuters Foundation. She has received awards for pro bono legal work, promoting diversity and for innovation.

We spoke with Rosemary to gain further insight on her career and the governance profession.

WHAT STANDS OUT AS THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT OVER YOUR CAREER?

I am most proud of the colleagues from my Corporate Secretariat teams who have pursued excellent governance careers themselves. It is hugely satisfying to see talent come up through the profession.

HOW HAS THE GOVERNANCE INDUSTRY CHANGED OVER YOUR CAREER?

It has changed a lot! When I first joined a company secretary's team Sir Adrian Cadbury had yet to publish his seminal report, the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance. That report, published in 1992, was in many ways a foundation stone for modern corporate governance. Since then many, many words have been written on the topic and more and more rules and guidance have been published. It is hard to keep up nowadays. I do sometimes think that the corporate governance industry would do well to go back and re-read that report as it was a model of clear-thinking, principles-based guidance that empowered boards to strike "the right balance between meeting the standards of corporate governance now expected of them and retaining the essential spirit of enterprise".

WHAT TRAITS/TRAINING MAKES A SUCCESSFUL GOVERNANCE PROFESSIONAL?

In my view a successful governance professional needs to be well trained in the technicalities of governance, needs to be interested in the details but also needs to have the ability to see the big picture and be ready to implement the principles of governance in a thoughtful way.

WHAT HAS KEPT YOU INVESTED IN GOOD GOVERNANCE THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER?

Organisations are endlessly fascinating theatres in which all kinds of dramas play out. Pursuing good governance is interesting because the challenge Sir Adrian Cadbury set down 30 years ago - to strike the right balance between meeting the standards of corporate governance and retaining the essential spirit of enterprise – is non-trivial and those organisations that manage to get that balance right can really make a positive contribution to the people whose lives they affect.
This feels like a worthwhile thing to pursue.