First woman chairperson elected at Board of PICG

F.P. Report

KARACHI: Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Former Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was elected Chairperson of the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG). Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, who was nominated as an independent director on the PICG Board in 2020 was “unanimously elected” in the 88th Board of Directors Meeting held on May 10th, 2021 making her the first woman Chair of PICG.

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar thanked the outgoing Chairman of the Board Riyaz T. Chinoy and the retiring directors for an outstanding job shaping 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 will dedicate significant time and energy to help grow PICG as a sustainable, progressive, and research-oriented organization.

Ahsan Jamil President & CEO PICG warmly welcomed Dr. Shamshad Akhtar as the new Chairperson as well as the newly elected and returning Board members. He remarked that “Dr. Akhtar as Board Chair will lend great impetus to further broaden PICG’s vision of promoting holistic, stakeholder governance, research & advocacy and ESG. Along with her depth of capital markets expertise, Dr. Shamshad brings diversity of perspective on research and policy advocacy, ESG as well as non-profit structure, governance and change management”.

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 in the Institute’s Articles of Association to role model higher standards of governance: whereby the Chair of the board must be independent, I/3rd 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 has given to PICG during his tenure as Board Chair which has left the Institute on a much stronger footing.

A smaller but well composed board with diverse competencies and accomplished back grounds augurs very well for PICG. A good balance of 5 new and 4 continuing directors stand elected, including 3 women directors and 4 independent board members; and 1 nominee Director each from the apex regulators, SECP and SBP.

The names of the incoming Board members are:
Nominee Directors:
Ms. Musarat Jabeen – SECP
Mr. Saleem Ullah – SBP
Non-Executive Directors:
Dr. Fakhara Rizwan – Pakistan Stock Exchange
Mr. Faisal Akhtar – OICCI/BASF
Mr. Yousaf Hussain – Bankers Association/Faysal Bank Limited
Independent Directors:
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar – Honorary Lifetime Individual Member
Mr. Muhammad Ashraf Bawany – CDC
Mr. Wasif Rizvi – Habib University
Mr. Ahsan Iqbal – Lifetime Individual Member