KARACHI: Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, a former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), has been elected chairperson of the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG).
Dr. Akhtar, who was nominated as an independent director on the PICG Board in 2020, was unanimously elected at the 88th board of directors meeting, making her the first woman chair of PICG.
This milestone follows close on the heels of her election as the first woman chairperson of the Pakistan Stock Exchange a week ago.
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar thanked the outgoing chairman of the board, Riyaz T. Chinoy, and the retiring directors for an outstanding job shaping the PICG into the institute it is today, and for the chairman’s extraordinary leadership skills that he provided to the board of directors and the institute.
Dr. Akhtar also welcomed the new and returning directors, saying she hoped the new board would dedicate significant time and energy to help grow the PICG into a sustainable, progressive and research-oriented organization.
Ahsan Jamil, president and CEO of PICG, warmly welcomed Dr. Shamshad Akhtar as the new chairperson as well as the newly-elected and returning board members.
He said that Dr. Akhtar as the board’s chair would lend great impetus to further broaden the PICG’s vision of promoting holistic, stakeholder governance, research and advocacy and ESG.
Along with her depth of capital markets expertise, Dr. Akhtar brings diversity of perspective on research and policy advocacy, ESG as well as non-profit structure, governance and change management, he said.
The PICG CEO also thanked the outgoing chairman, Riyaz T. Chinoy, and the retiring PICG board members for their able stewardship especially in their oversight and support of progressive amendments to the institute’s Articles of Association to role model higher standards of governance whereby the chair of the board must be independent, one-third must be women and independent directors respectively and no more than two consecutive terms for board members.
He sincerely thanked the outgoing chairman for the devotion, leadership and commitment he had given to the PICG during his tenure which had left the institute on a much stronger footing.
A smaller but well-composed board with diverse competencies and accomplished backgrounds augurs very well for the PICG.
A good balance of five new and four continuing directors stand elected, including three women directors and four independent board members and one nominee director each from the apex regulators, the SECP and the SBP.
The names of the incoming board members are nominee directors Musarat Jabeen (SECP) and Saleem Ullah (SBP); non-executive directors Dr. Fakhara Rizwan (Pakistan Stock Exchange), Faisal Akhtar (OICCI/BASF), Yousaf Hussain (Bankers Association/Faysal Bank Limited) and independent directors Dr. Shamshad Akhtar (Honorary Lifetime Individual Member), Muhammad Ashraf Bawany (CDC), Wasif Rizvi (Habib University) and Ahsan Iqbal (Lifetime Individual Member).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021