Board Evaluation

“We recently engaged with Board Excellence to perform an external review of the performance of our Board.  Under the guidance of Ros O’Shea, Board Excellence delivered a comprehensive assessment that was professional, rigorous, and fair.  Universally, our Directors had affirming comments about their interviews with Ros. I found that Ros was particularly adept in bringing forward best practices that will help the performance of our Board as we move forward.  The approach taken was not cookie cutter in any fashion.  Board Excellence tailored our assessment to our Industry and our circumstances.  I have no reservations in recommending Board Excellence to others.”

“Board Excellence, through Jonathan Westrup, completed a thoroughly professional Board evaluation of the Board of Management of Oberstown Children Detention Campus. In addition to identifying good practice and areas of improvement for the Board, the evaluation also provided some entirely fresh perspectives on our approach, linking recommendations to the organisation’s strategic direction in a most helpful manner. The evaluation exceeded expectations in every respect and I could not recommend Jonathan highly enough.”

“Global Shares engaged the services of Board Excellence to provide external evaluation and strategic consultancy to our Board and Executive team. Kieran’s collaborative style and easy manner proved key to positive engagement with all board members, which in turn enabled a thorough review of the board structure, its governance and effectiveness. The recommendations and findings presented to us by Kieran, were clear and structured. We would highly recommend Kieran and Board Excellence to any Board that wishes to improve their board performance, composition, and corporate governance.”

“We engaged Board Excellence to carry out an external evaluation of our Board and Standing Committees and a review of our governance framework documentation. This review, which happens every three years, included questionnaires and individual meetings with all of our Board members, Board Standing Committee members and Senior Leadership Team. The review was thorough and insightful with some great feedback and recommendations. We highly recommend the services of Board Excellence.”

“Kieran Moynihan of Board Excellence completed a very comprehensive review of our board structure and practices. The nature of the engagement was thorough and forthright but at the same time commercial and pragmatic. The insights and advice received from Kieran will enable our board to perform at a higher level and to work more effectively with management to deliver ambitious targets for our business. I would highly recommend the engagement of Kieran and Board Excellence in assessing a board and advising on how best to deliver enhanced board effectiveness.”

“Ros approached this engagement using a structured and collaborative style and her easy manner ensured constructive and positive engagement from the board and senior management. Her review was comprehensive and included fresh insights and perspectives on our approach. Ros’s wealth of experience coupled with her structured approach ensured the company has a well-informed set of pragmatic recommendations that can be implemented to strengthen our current corporate governance arrangements. In addition, Board Excellence advice and guidance on the implementation of those recommendation is an invaluable part of their servicing offering. The evaluation exceeded our expectations, and we would highly recommend Ros O’Shea to any company looking to improve their corporate governance framework.”

“We engaged Board Excellence for our external Board evaluation which is a key part of our governance arrangements. From the outset I was so impressed with Kieran Moynihan’s responsiveness, clear and thorough approach to the evaluation. Kieran’s expertise gained over many years was very evident as we went through the evaluation process and he was very insightful in understanding the complexity of a charitable organisation operating in the challenging and dynamic healthcare sector. Kieran was a pleasure to work with and he couldn’t have been more helpful to me throughout the evaluation process.”

“David O’Callaghan of Board Excellence was engaged to independently evaluate the governance and board effectiveness of Core Credit Union. Our board has previously worked with David on another project earlier this year. David has an excellent deep knowledge and understanding of the Credit Union sector as well as the dynamics and intricacies of board structures. David’s role was to provide a high-level governance evaluation of the board, structures, committees, performance and the relationship with senior management and CEO. David took a hands-on approach meeting with all relevant parties and observing a range of meetings. This resulted in the composition of a comprehensive and excellent final report. We have already implemented a number of his recommendations and we would consider that David’s contribution has given us the tools to improve our overall performance as a board.”

“Our recent external board evaluation process with Board Excellence was a very thorough process, assessing our board effectiveness and performance in a wide range of areas. Kieran’s approach, while challenging and setting the bar high for the board, was very engaging, constructive and warmly embraced by the board. Kieran went the extra mile to understand our board, our dynamics as a board team, our strengths to build upon and identify opportunities to improve. We worked closely with Kieran to develop a practical roadmap based on the evaluation recommendations to drive sustained improvement in our board effectiveness, leveraging the deep experience and best practices Board Excellence have developed and we are already seeing the benefits of this. For any board looking to select a board evaluation practice to provide a robust honest evaluation of the board that adds genuine value, I warmly recommend Board Excellence.”

“Cirencester Friendly takes Corporate Governance very seriously and we undertake a triennial external review of the effectiveness of our Board. For our most recent review process we partnered with Board Excellence to conduct an independent review. The approach they took was thorough and robust and we worked closely with Paul George and Kieran Moynihan to produce an output that was practical and proportionate. The report contained a good range of findings and recommendations that recognised our Board was already effective but can be made even more so. We saw Board Excellence’s commitment to include follow-up work over a 12-month period as a key differentiator in the market. I would be happy to recommend Board Excellence to organisations looking for an independent and objective assessment of their Board.”

“Paul George did a great job for the NAO Board. He conducted our board effectiveness review with tact and rigour, bringing considerable experience and insight to the process and enabling us to become an even more effective Board as a result of the process.”

“I would certainly recommend Board Excellence to carry out a robust and thorough effectiveness review. Their UK lead Partner Paul George was quick to understand the issues and presented us with an excellent report with some very clear and pertinent recommendations.”

“Our decision to choose Board Excellence to run our External Evaluation turns out to have been an excellent one ! Kieran Moynihan’s report was thorough, balanced, comprehensive and excellent value. More importantly it was insightful. It pulled no punches and provided candid feedback that was hard hitting but accurate. At the same time it drew out an array of very positive points too. We all greatly appreciated the directness of Kieran’s comments, are thoroughly pleased we have done the exercise and are relishing our next steps. Thanks Board Excellence – an excellent job !”

“Our Board evaluation process has done just what it should do, which is challenge us as a Board and make us think about ways to improve our performance for all of our stakeholders. The Board Excellence team ran a well-structured process, ensuring that multiple data inputs were used and put into the right context. They partnered with us collectively and individually from beginning to end of the evaluation, communicated clearly with us throughout and definitely went the extra mile to ensure that we got real value out of the evaluation. One of the main reasons we selected them was their excellent knowledge of, and insights into, Board dynamics and performance; this proved to be very helpful and informative when reflecting on our own performance. They are not afraid to address the elephants in the room and to challenge everything, which is the only way to make real progress. I would definitely work with them again.”

“We selected Board Excellence to work with us on our recent external board evaluation because we wanted Independent and practical advice on how to be a more effective board. Kieran Moynihan provided us with just that! His report was extremely thorough, pulled no punches and guided us on the actions to work on that would have the most impact for our Charity Board. Kieran also supported us with feedback to our senior leadership team which was important for us as they are critical to our overall board effectiveness. We have already seen the benefits of this work and have really enjoyed working with Kieran, who has been a critical friend to us, as well as advisor and coach!”

“British Canoeing is an organisation that is serious about good governance and striving to ensure that we operate as effectively as possible. In our search for best practice, we selected and worked with Board Excellence to help us on our journey. They were outstanding in their work for us. Their expertise was exceptional, but it was the manner in which they worked with us that I appreciated enormously. They were frank, well informed, had access to benchmark data and were knowledgeable about and sensitive to the context in which NGBs and member organisations work. We did not want a simple test of compliance or measurement against others. We wanted advice and guidance on how to get better. They presented sound advice, well thought through options and an offer to work with us on an implementation plan. They have served us exceedingly well.”