Two Canterbury women win Institute of Directors’ Award

16 October 2018

Hannah Doney and Kathryn Ruge have each won an Emerging Director Award from the Institute of Directors Canterbury Branch presented last night in Christchurch.

Each year the Institute of Directors make Emerging Director Awards to people who show leadership, integrity and enterprise in their careers.

The pair each receives $1500 towards Institute of Directors’ director development courses, a year’s complimentary membership of the Institute of Directors, a board internship and mentoring from an experienced director.

They were presented with their awards on Monday 15 October at an evening function at The George, Christchurch, attended by 70 IoD members.

Award-winning marketer looks to commercial governance

Hannah Doney

Hannah Doney, a freelance marketer, says winning the IoD Emerging Director Award is a stepping stone in her career. “The opportunity to listen, learn and engage at a commercial board as an associate is invaluable experience. I want to learn from competent directors so that I can add value to the current and future boards I am involved with.”

“I want to see commercial directors in practice so that I can learn about the right questions to ask, the right tone to have and the right timing for discussion. I don’t believe there are enough marketers at the board table. “

She is already on the national board of Girl Guiding New Zealand, is a convenor for the Banks Peninsula A&P Association, an Advisory Board member for an Australian beverage start-up and is working towards Chartered Membership of the Institute of Directors.

Hannah’s director internship will be with Ashburton’s locally owned co-operative electricity company EA Networks. “This is the first time EA Networks have offered an internship, so it’s very exciting,” said IoD committee member Jane Cartwright who chaired the selection panel.

IoD Chartered Member Philip McKendry is Chair of the EA Networks board, and Hannah will be mentored by IoD Chartered Fellow Rex Williams.

Hannah became involved in governance in 2010 as president of New Zealand Women’s Lacrosse. “I stepped off the pitch and into governance and quickly realised it was just as, if not more challenging,” Hannah says. “I needed to know what I was doing if the organisation was to be sustainable.’

“From that point I began a journey of professional development with leadership training, governance courses and finally a Master’s in Business Administration. As a marketer I bring customer-centric strategic thought to the board table,” Hannah says. “I actively represent the customer, shareholder, and stakeholders. I consider marketers as the ultimate stewards of customer. Often, the voice and needs of the customer is de-prioritised in organisational strategy as financial performance comes first. However, customer engagement drives revenue. When an organisation delivers well executed customer-centric strategy, customers engage more.”

Hannah thinks diversity of thought at board level requires marketing skill, not only for customer value but also when considering the digital future of communication channels, inbound and outbound. “Strategy that does not engage modern technology will lack future capability and scalability,” she says.

A competent director has business acumen, including the ability to understand the market and its dynamics and the competitive landscape. At an operational level it is the job of a marketer to work with these levers. At a governance level, understanding these levers is critical when setting strategy.

Hannah says she did an MBA in order to increase her commercial capabilities and business acumen. ”I can now read a set of financial reports, ask questions about risk management plans, consider health and safety measures and develop future budgets. I can do all this whilst putting the customer first in the discussion.”

Hannah has been a Chartered Marketer with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) since 2014.

PR professional wins Emerging Director Award

Kathryn Ruge

Kathryn Ruge, a senior communications advisor in Christchurch has won an Emerging Director Award from the Institute of Directors.

As part of her prize, Kathryn receives an internship for a year at the board table of Christchurch-based engineering, contracting and logistics firm, Connetics, chaired by IoD Chartered member Rob Jamieson. IoD Chartered Fellow Brian Wood will be Kathryn’s mentor for 12 months.

Kathryn, who has been involved in the governance of charitable, not-for-profit organisations since her late teens, says the Award will provide invaluable support for her governance journey and is excited at the opportunity to immerse herself in a year of hands-on learning while strengthening her relationships in this area.

She is on the national governing body of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ), chairs the PRINZ Southern Branch, has served on the Avonhead School board, and is currently assisting Archery NZ with a governance review. Kathryn has worked in the private and public sectors across a range of organisations including aviation, high-tech, local government, and most recently for Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. She will shortly take up a senior communications role with the New Zealand Defence Force based at Burnham.

“As boards progress to triple and quadruple bottom line reporting frameworks, it is increasingly important for them to develop strategic capability in the area of managing reputational risk and complex stakeholder relationships,” Kathryn says.

“It is not enough to simply have access to a ‘public relations machine’ in times of trouble – this capability and counsel is needed at the governance table.”

She also believes “governance practice is enriched when diversity of thought and experience is sought after and valued, which means being open to sourcing strategic and financial capability outside the traditional occupations of law and accounting.”

Kathryn is also a passionate advocate of te Reo and te Ao Māori, and encourages boards to develop in this area. “There is increasingly a need for boards to deepen their relationship with the Treaty of Waitangi and intentionally work to increase their bi-cultural capability and understanding. As a New Zealander of German, Scottish, and English descent, I take my role as a Treaty partner very seriously and seek to role model good practice in all my daily interactions – both at work and at home.”

About IoD:

IoD is a non-partisan voluntary membership organisation committed to driving excellence in governance. It represents about 9000 members drawn from listed issuers, large private organisations, small and medium enterprises, state sector organisations, not-for-profit organisations and charities.

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