To read the full article published in The Guardian, click here

The appointment was made after broad consultation with the three Campus Development Groups (which include elected parents, students, teachers as well as school principals), the Conférence des Directeurs  (all school principals, campus directors and senior management of the Foundation), Student Council members from all campuses, the Staff Association, the Director General, and Board Members.

Mrs. Tuck comes to the International School after 15 years at Cheltenham, which, under her leadership, has enjoyed a period of great stability and carefully planned innovation reaffirming its position as one of the premier independent schools in the UK. During her tenure there she has introduced the International Baccalaureate program, expanded student guidance services and co-curricular programs, increased enrollment, enhanced academic standards, integrated information technology across the curriculum, and initiated new staff engagement structures that led to greater interaction and improved management-staff relations. She has spearheaded successful fundraising drives for major capital projects, including an award-winning Arts Centre.

A leading figure in education in the UK, Mrs. Tuck is Vice Chair of the Independent Schools Council, which represents 1,280 independent schools in the UK and abroad, and writes a regular column on education for The Telegraph (London).  She is currently on a sabbatical term researching education in the fast emerging economies of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). She is fluent in French, and speaks both Spanish and Italian. She is married with two grown sons.

“We are confident, and delighted, that we have found in Vicky Tuck the right leader to succeed Dr. Tate,” said Governing Board Chairperson Philip Biber on behalf of the entire Board. “Dr. Tate took the International School of Geneva to new levels with his passion for education and commitment to excellence. Vicky Tuck shares those qualities, and clearly has the vision and drive to continue to carry us forward in new and exciting directions.”

Mrs. Tuck’s appointment as Director General culminates a year-long search process by the Governing Board of the ISG, in which it was assisted by the firm Odgers Berndtson. Some 250 applications were received from leaders of schools and other institutions around the world.
 

Mrs. Tuck will take up her duties during the summer of 2011 upon the retirement of Dr. Tate, who will have served as Director General of the International School for eight years, a tenure that has been marked by significant improvements in the quality and breadth of educational provision at the School. These have included the introduction of a strategic planning process and numerous new programs, including expansion of learning and language support, the completion of many major capital projects – and the beginning of several more which are ongoing – and an overall increase in student numbers which will reach some 4,400 by the 2011-12 school year.

The majority of companies have until the end of June to disclose their compensation details, but many have claimed the requirement will prove to be a pointless and unproductive exercise.

According to the Daily Yomiuri, some firms believe tightening the disclosure regime is unnecessary, as executive pay levels in Japan remain significantly lower than at European and US companies.

Under the previous executive pay regulations, introduced in 2004, firms were required to publish compensation totals but did not have to disclose individual salaries.

President of the Tokyo Stock Exchange Atsushi Saito told the newspaper: "Just showing the amounts will invite criticism from the public and a sense of [income] disparity."

An official at a major bank added that the number of companies with executives earning enough to be subject to the new disclosure rules will be less than 100, out of 3,800 listed companies.

Under proposals set out by Michel Barnier, the commissioner for the internal market for the European Commission (EC), regulators may attend board meetings of financial institutions in the future.

An EC green paper laying out the plan to improve governance standards stated: "Some supervisors [may] attend board meetings to assess if non-executive directors function effectively and are sufficiently challenging vis-a-vis management."

It was added that assessments of such meetings and those present in them may help boards function more effectively, reports eFinancial News.

However, some concerns have been raised about the policy, with an unnamed former fund manager telling the news provider that non-executive directors may end up feeling less motivated to perform well in their job if a supervisor is there.

Earlier this month, the EC stated that poor corporate governance at banks had played a role in allowing the financial crisis to take place, reported the Wall Street Journal.

According to Bob Evans, director of Information Week's global CIO unit, many executives in such roles may be moved on from their current firms later this year if they fail to embrace procedural and technological changes.

He said that CIOs must now see themselves as leaders of IT teams, rather than merely managers of infrastructure and should also be engaged in thinking about ways they can help improve their companies' revenue flow.

Mr Evans added that knowledge of areas such as cloud computing should also be central to CIOs.

He advised anyone who fears they are struggling to meet such criteria "to schedule some quality time with your favourite headhunter".

Last week, Chris Pickles, head of investment banking and global accounts at BT Global Financial Services, told eFinancial Careers that the appointment of George Sherman as its new chief technology officer heralded a likely shake-up in the IT structure of the company.

Recent debates on governance in the US and UK have focused on encouraging major shareholders to take more responsibility for the stewardship of the companies in which they invest.

However, Peter Dey believes the balance of power is beginning to shift too far away from the boardroom, CTV reports.

Mr Dey was responsible for creating the first governance guidelines for Canadian firms and received a lifetime achievement award from the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) this week.

Speaking about the growing influence wielded by shareholders, he told the website: "To try to jump in and make judgments where the board should be making judgments, I think is just the wrong direction."

"Where [shareholders] can be most effective is identifying good directors, getting them on the slate and electing them."

He also suggested the recent trend for investors to have a "say on pay" could set a dangerous precedent for shareholders controlling other aspects of business strategy.

The ICGN's annual conference concludes in Toronto today (June 9th).

Under the regulations, publicly traded companies have to identify all individuals who earn more than 100 million yen (£751,000), as well as providing a breakdown of their compensation packages.

According to Bloomberg, the move could prompt more companies to consider performance-related pay structures, as the Japanese tradition of basing remuneration on seniority still lives on in many organisations.

Takeshi Komatsu, a Tokyo-based lawyer specialising in corporate governance, told the news agency: "Investors will be able to hold executives accountable for their remuneration by comparing it to the firm's performance."

It is also thought the disclosure rules could expose a significant gulf in compensation levels between Japanese executives and their non-native counterparts.

Japan's Financial Services Agency implemented the new regulations on March 31st and most companies have until the end of June to release their pay details.

Running until Wednesday, the conference is entitled The Changing Global Balances and will also feature contributions from members of the Royal Bank of Canada, the University of Toronto and the Association of British Insurers.

Issues such as boardroom communication, executive remuneration and shareholder stewardship will be debated at the event, which follows the ICGN's mid-year conference at London's Guildhall in March.

Speaking before his keynote speech yesterday, Mr Flaherty told reporters in Toronto he would like to see global leaders work to accelerate the pace of financial reform.

In comments reported by the Canadian Press, he said: "We shouldn't be distracted by bank levies and those kinds of issues, which don't cut to the chase.

"The Chase is decreasing the likelihood of reckless risk-taking which we saw a couple of years ago."

What causes women’s careers to fail? Does Germany need a quota for women? What alternatives do companies have to promote more women in leadership? These and other questions were subject to intense debate by these leading women executives, invited for the first time by Odgers Berndtson to take part in a high-powered round table at Villa Kennedy in Frankfurt.

The Odgers Berndtson forum ”Germany’s Women Executives” was set up to provide board women and women in executive positions in the leading companies in Germany with an exclusive platform to discuss the promotion of women in senior management and to share their experience and their tried and proven solutions.

The focus of this initial event was to allow for personal exchange and getting to know one another. The brief introductory speeches by Daniela Weber-Rey, Partner in Clifford Chance and the only female member of the German Corporate Governance Commission, Dr. Margarete Haase, Board of Management member of DEUTZ AG, as well as Thomas Sattelberger, Board of Management member of Deutsche Telekom AG, left enough time for an intense discussion of the overriding issue, ”Are women in Germany ready for the quota?“

The women executives responded quite positively to the event: All of the participants said they found the discussion to be very open, constructive and personally rewarding. Thomas Sattelberger summed it up: ”Show me a circle of men whose discussions are as honest, authentic and thoughtful. You won't find one!“

WELT published an extensive report on the Odgers Berndtson”Germany’s Women Executives” forum on 31 May 2010. The online version of the article (in German) is available here.

The event, which brought together a working group for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance, was hosted by the Malaysian Securities Commission (MSC) and Bursa Malaysia.

According to the Malaysia Star, a statement from the MSC revealed the discussion focused on improving corporate disclosures, clarifying the role of stakeholders and reducing the gap between standards and performance.

Observers at the meeting included representatives of the International Corporate Governance Network, the World Bank and the Asian Corporate Governance Association.

The Asian Roundtable of Corporate Governance was established by the OECD and the Japanese government as a regional forum for the discussion of governance reform.

Recent meetings have focused on prospective changes to the OECD's white paper on corporate governance in Asia, which was last updated in 2003.

This is according to the Express Tribune, which pointed out that Pakistan suffers from almost no female representation at boardroom level, despite enjoying "a fair percentage of talented women in the corporate sector".

An anonymous banking executive told the newspaper that female leaders often show a heightened awareness of risk and focus on the long-term interests of their company, making them a valuable addition to many organisations.

"Additionally, they tend to be intuitive managers, resulting in fair and sound judgment," he added.

Despite these qualities, the fact that many women in Pakistan put their careers on hold after marriage means they are often not taken seriously in the corporate world, the publication noted.

However, there is evidence to suggest many female workers decide to leave their employer because they are not given the opportunity to hold a senior position.

The problem of gender inequality is not confined to smaller economies, with Forbes reporting earlier this year that women account for just three per cent of chief executives at the 500 largest companies in the US.

In an extract from The Upside of Irrationality published on the TED website, the writer reveals how he and several colleagues attempted to explore the relationship between bonuses and performance by carrying out a study in India.

Participants were asked to carry out an array of simple tasks based on concentration and skill, such as recalling a series of numbers and throwing tennis balls at a target, with different bonuses offered to different players.

The researchers found that the group offered the highest bonuses for completing the tasks performed the worst, while those hoping to receive a medium-sized payment were no better than the group playing for the lowest amount.

According to Mr Ariely, the results suggest that "financial rewards are often a two-edged sword", as the prospect of a large bonus can become counter-productive and damage performance.

He commented: "Higher bonuses may not only cost employers more, but also hinder executives in working to the best of their abilities."

Ariely is a professor of behavioural economics who published Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions in 2008.

This is according to an editorial in the country's Financial Express, which claimed a number of "changes in corporate culture" are expected across Bangladesh in light of recent developments on the world stage.

The publication suggested that government figures should "give a positive signal to the private sector" by first establishing a transparent and accountable administrative regime themselves.

"Reforms need to be carried out in such a manner that the very environment encourages companies to follow good corporate governance practices," the newspaper commented.

In an article published by the Financial Express last year, Professor Baqui Khalily of Dhaka University claimed Bangladesh suffers from a "poor understanding" of governance among many of its business owners and entrepreneurs.

He said problems such as insider trading, family ownership, non-compliance and inadequate financial information continue to challenge the nation's corporate governance agenda.

The Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) wants firms to publish details on how much their top executives earn from exercising stock options, the Globe and Mail reports.

Investors argue that such information makes it easier to track how much directors earn in real terms over a protracted period of time.

"We think that is an important piece of information that boards should be looking at themselves and they should be disclosing to investors," CCGG executive director Stephen Griggs told the newspaper.

The requirement disappeared last year with the advent of new disclosure rules, in which the regulatory focus applies only to compensation decisions made in the year the options were awarded.

Mr Griggs admitted the disclosure of executive compensation is a "complex issue", but said regulators should seek ways to make shareholder proxy reports more accurate.

Founded in 2003, the CCGG claims to manage a collective C$1.4 trillion (£916 billion) across its 41 members.

Speaking to the Malaysian Star, Professor Sidartha Utama of the Indonesian Institute for Corporate Directorship said too many firms consider corporate governance as a simple matter of compliance.

He also said majority shareholders have a duty to promote governance standards and ensure such issues remain on the corporate agenda.

"Many companies look at corporate governance as some sort of regulation that they must comply with. In substance, they don't internalise it," Professor Utama told the newspaper.

He was speaking during a visit to Kuala Lumpur for a meeting of the Working Group of the Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance in Asia.

The event was jointly hosted by the Securities Commission Malaysia and the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

New updates to the OECD's white paper on corporate governance in Asia, initially published in 2003 and revised in 2006, are set to form the agenda at several meetings across the continent this year.