25 October 2024
We’re delighted to invite you to the next NED Exchange in-person panel and networking event. Helene Usherwood, AQ Board Practice lead, will be hosting the evening and chairing a diverse panel discussion with experienced NEDs.
Date: Tuesday 26 November, 4.30-7.30pm
Location: University Women’s Club, London W1K 1 DB
Register your interest to attend at the bottom of this page.
Our panel will be sharing personal insights on their journey developing their NED portfolios; from attaining their first role, skills they have developed, lessons they have learnt on the way, and how to position yourself as a Board-ready candidate. This will include some hints and tips on what to include on your NED applications, how you might be assessed, and what they look for when developing and shaping their Boards.
Our panel is made up of some fantastic individuals who have very different skills, backgrounds and sector expertise. We hope this diverse mix of experiences will provide you with varied insights and demonstrate how different NED career journeys can be, and allow you to reflect on where you might want you journey to lead.
Whether you’re an aspiring NED looking for your first role, an experienced NED looking to further develop your portfolio, or a leader looking to develop and appoint new members to your Board, this is a great opportunity to listen, ask questions to the panel, and network with fellow peers.
Amerdeep Somal
Chair of the Law Society of England and Wales and Chair of Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
Amerdeep is Chair of the Board at The Law Society of England and Wales, and is the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for England and Chair of the Commission for Local Administration in England. She is a Judge of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.
She was the Complaints Commissioner to the financial regulators (Bank of England, FCA and PRA) and Chief Commissioner at the Data and Marketing Commission. She was also the Independent Assessor to the Financial Ombudsman Service and Board member at the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council, and is a former founding Commissioner at the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Jeremy Shute
Co-Founder of Ignition Strategy and Trustee at Teenage Cancer Trust.
For over 30 years, Jeremy has built a unique set of experiences and skills that can be applied to help solve almost any problem. He has held leadership roles in both B2C and B2B running P&Ls from £50m up to £1bn, with a proven track-record in Fortune 50, 500 and America’s 12th largest Family-Owned business. Specialising as a global leader of strategy, marketing, sales, innovation, digital, data, analytics, and Insights teams, working from brands such as Johnsons Baby, Glade, Mr. Muscle, Franks Red Hot and Schwartz Spices.
He has served as a non-executive director at the Teenage Cancer Trust since 2015, including a member of the People & Culture Committee and Chair of the Digital Advisory Group. He is also an AOEC qualified executive coach; mentoring and coaching individuals all over the world, supporting them in their career journeys and realising their potential. Most recently, he co-founded Ignition Strategy to help create rapid value using resources organisations already have at their disposal but tend to overlook. He also lectures on Change Management at Carthage College in the USA.
Benaifer Bhandari
CEO at Hopscotch Women’s Centre and Chair of Voluntary Action Camden (VAC)
In 2018, Benaifer joined as CEO of Hopscotch Women’s Centre, coming from the world’s leading health organisation dedicated to women, La Leche League. She has a passion for robust governance ensuring every action is reflected in mission and insisting deeply that every minoritised person and group have support in a person-centred and trauma informed way.
She has applied her knowledge across to other organisations as trustee for C4 (Camden Community Centres Consortium), Chair for Global Generation and in 2021, and as Chair for Voluntary Action Camden.
Benaifer particularly enjoys Chairing Camden and Islington’s Trauma Informed Network – a space where there is learning and growth for all those responsible for the most vulnerable in London.
Her experience is in providing strategic guidance to create sustainable goals with effective implementation practices – through a trauma informed lens.
Kemi Adenubi
Programme Director and Strategic Consultant at Think Act Ltd and NED at Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.
Kemi is a strategic consultant and NED with a breadth of specialist experience in areas such as digital advisory and commercial transformation, supporting businesses and inspiring their boards to prioritise decision-making and secure cross-functional organisational and operational change. She began her professional journey as a Chartered Civil Engineer, and one of her earliest roles includes 13 years as Programme Director for NHS Digital, enabling digital change in the GP clinical IT industry, and Programme Manager at Kellogg Brown & Root.
In 2018, she launched Think Act, an independent consultancy, to provide advisory services to a range of clients, including Transport for Wales. Alongside her consultancy engagements, she is building a Non-Executive Director portfolio, which has included four years with NHS Isle of Wight Trust. In July 2024, she was appointed as a NED to Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust helping to steer outcome focussed service transformation across the three NHS trusts.
