This session, led by experts from Lead To focuses on equipping boards with the tools and insights to build high-performing governance boards and ensure robust succession planning.

Participants will explore the human dynamics that underpin effective governance and examine how organisations can build engaged, high-performing boards and committees. Through collaborative discussions and real-world examples, attendees will learn how to build more productive relationships, navigate conflict positively, support and motivate volunteer leaders, and build a board that benefits from both specialist knowledge and a breadth of perspectives.

This session examines how governance practices can strengthen legitimacy and deepen engagement with members and stakeholders.

We will explore the foundational elements of trustworthy governance, including transparent decision-making processes, effective reporting systems, clear and consistent communication, robust accountability mechanisms, and meaningful stakeholder engagement.

Attendees will gain practical insights into cultivating a culture of openness within their organisations and demonstrating organisational integrity through consistent actions and decisions. The discussion covers how to translate these principles into tangible outcomes - strengthening relationships with members, regulators, and other key stakeholders, while building lasting confidence in the organisation's governance approach.

Ultimately, the session equips boards to use transparency and accountability not as compliance exercises but as strategic tools for building resilient stakeholder relationships that support long-term organisational success.

As cyber threats continue to grow in scale, sophistication, and impact, effective governance is no longer solely a technology issue. It has become a critical boardroom responsibility. From ransomware and supply chain attacks to the opportunities and risks presented by artificial intelligence, organisations across every sector face an increasingly complex cyber landscape that demands informed leadership and robust oversight.

In this session, Giles Grant, CEO of the UKCSC, will explore how boards, executives, and membership organisations can strengthen organisational resilience through good cyber governance. Drawing on developments across government policy, professional standards, workforce skills, and the growing professionalisation of cyber security, Giles will discuss why cyber competence is becoming an essential component of good governance and public trust.

The presentation will examine the role of leadership in understanding cyber risk, the importance of professional standards and workforce development, and how membership organisations can support their members in navigating an evolving threat environment. Attendees will gain practical insights into the governance questions leaders should be asking, the capabilities organisations should be developing, and the contribution professional bodies can make in raising standards across the wider economy.

At a time when cyber security is increasingly recognised as a strategic and societal challenge, this session will highlight how effective governance, professional competence, and collective leadership can help organisations build resilience, maintain trust, and thrive in a digital world.

Key themes:

• Cyber security as a board-level governance issue

• The changing threat landscape and emerging risks

• Professionalisation and cyber competence

• Building organisational resilience and trust

• The role of membership organisations in raising standards

• Cyber governance in the age of AI

Most membership organisations are further along with AI than their governance is. Staff are already using public chatbots on personal accounts, a supplier is pitching an agent that promises to answer member enquiries on its own, and nobody has written down what the organisation will and won't allow.

This session sets out a practical sequence for getting from that position to one a board can stand behind. It covers the five stages of AI adoption, why they only work in order, and where the governance work actually sits (stage three, and it is the stage most organisations skip). It introduces the four levels of agency an AI agent can be given, from read-only through to acting alone, and why choosing that level per task is the single most useful control a board has.

Attendees will leave with the questions to ask their executive team, the small set of things worth writing down before any agent is switched on, and a realistic view of what goes wrong and how to catch it early.