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Senior executives navigating the transition from executive to Non-Executive Director roles face a pathway that's less organic and more deliberate than many expect. Derwent delved into this important topic with 50 senior executives in Brisbane last week at our Pathway to the Boardroom event. Despite different journeys throughout their executive careers and into a Board portfolio, our speakers, Susan Forrester AM and Teresa Dyson , shared their wisdom across the decisions that support your transition to Director, the importance of leveraging networks across your career, value addition and the shift from an operating mindset, and the importance of thorough due diligence. Key Themes & Takeaways Pathway from executive to non-executive The pathway is not easy during transition from an executive career. You need to be “eyes wide open and have a thick skin” – there will be individual and market circumstances that will test your resolve and motivations. A deliberate and formal transition to a Board career can make the path clearer – especially for the networks that are trying to advocate for your Board candidacy. Many individuals expect that they will organically end up on boards after their executive career; however, in reality it’s a long process that requires patience, intent, and effort. The power of your network Leverage your network of experience and draw on different periods of your career journey for introductions and conversations that might lead to Board opportunities. Map out a plan of who you should be talking to, including existing Board members, other well-networked senior executives, Board communities (such as AICD), and relevant experts such as Board search partners. By letting broad networks know of your intention and desire to join Boards, it can provide opportunities to get a foot in the door. Get out there and plant a lot of different seeds! The importance of your value-add proposition Many aspiring Board Directors can tick a lot of the boxes when it comes to the criteria for Board candidacy, but the difference can be the fit to specific organisations. Your value addition can be identified across various facets, including your functional or industry expertise, your broader career achievement or success (such as major transactions, industry changes, working in different settings or ownership structures, etc), and personal or ethical alignment. Part of developing your individual proposition is sharing the unique elements of your profile with your networks, including the personal experiences and drivers that can be as important as your professional experience. Director mindset versus executive mindset New Directors often try to prove their executive and sometimes technical expertise, and need to make the shift to a mindset of governing over managing – “noses in and fingers out”. There’s a style of thinking from an executive career that allows you to draw on your experience and add real value to a Board setting. A change in mindset is required in order to add value in the critical areas for a Board member, such as setting and agreeing strategy alongside management, managing risk, and selecting the CEO. Conducting due diligence as you explore Board opportunities Due diligence is mutual – both for companies bringing on a Board member, and Board members looking to join an organisation. Exploration may include reading previous annual reports, talking to brokers or customers, and most importantly meeting the Chair, committee members, and other Directors if possible. Each Board has its own risk appetite, so it’s important to understand the values and risk alignment. Building relationships with other Board members to have open and honest conversations can take time and trust. “Boards are like a team – they don’t train together often, but they come together to play”. Our thanks to Michelle Gardiner , Managing Partner from our Board practice, for hosting this event, and to our guest speakers and attendees for their valuable contributions. Continue the conversation We'd love to hear your perspective on this topic! For further insights or to explore how Derwent can help you or your organisation, connect with our team at brisbane@derwentsearch.com.au . To express your interest for future Derwent events, please reach out to us at events@derwentsearch.com.au .

Australian boardrooms are confronting an unprecedented convergence of regulatory complexity, technological disruption, and stakeholder scrutiny. With mandatory climate reporting, rising cybersecurity threats, and AI disruption accelerating across industries, boards are making decisive talent moves to reposition their organisations. The focus is shifting from traditional oversight to strategic, innovative leadership in an increasingly complex environment. Moving from shareholder-only management to multi-stakeholder governance has become central to these strategies. Critical Talent Trends Artificial Intelligence: The New Governance Frontier – AI has emerged as perhaps the most significant governance challenge facing Australian boards with immediate implications. Board members need to ask two fundamental questions: What can AI do for our organisation? What risks does AI bring? Yet many Australian boards remain unprepared for voluntary AI reporting recommendations, opting to wait for potential mandatory frameworks in the future. This represents a fundamental shift from traditional technology oversight, now requiring directors capable of navigating complex AI implementation, risk assessment, and strategic deployment across business operations. Cybersecurity: Critical Board Responsibility – the cybersecurity landscape presents stark challenges that demand board-level attention, with Australian data revealing the magnitude of this threat: cybercrime reports reached over 87,400 in FY24, with incidents logged every six minutes. We're witnessing emerging directors with strong commercial experience and contemporary cyber skills securing board positions ahead of more experienced candidates who lack these specialised capabilities. This pattern suggests a growing recognition of cyber expertise as increasingly valuable in boardroom composition, reflecting the evolving threat environment and the rising importance placed on directors who possess relevant digital risk management capabilities . Climate Governance: From Aspiration to Action – climate governance has fundamentally shifted with the AICD's analysis showing that Australian boards are moving from aspiration and ambition to action, but progress is uneven. The regulatory framework is now concrete, with the introduction of mandatory climate reporting under globally-aligned standards representing a major milestone and requiring boards to increase oversight of climate risk, transition strategy, and scenario analysis. This transition demands directors who understand both the technical aspects of climate reporting and the strategic implications of sustainability transformation across business models. Board Diversity: Progress and Challenges – substantial progress has been made in gender diversity, with women representing nearly half of board appointments to ASX 300 boards over the last two years and holding 35% of ASX board positions overall. However, broader diversity challenges remain significant. There is still work to be done with 91% of ASX 300 Directors having an Anglo-Celtic background and only six openly LGBQTIA+ ASX directors. Consensus is forming around the AICD's and 30% Club's objective of securing 40/40/20 (40% men/40% women/20% of any gender) representation, but investors are applying pressure to see broader ethnic diversity that will better reflect businesses' customer bases and operational footprint. Shareholder Pressure – the shareholder activism landscape has intensified significantly, with Qantas’ shareholders rejecting the company's remuneration plan with a near-record 82.9% opposition following corporate scandals, demonstrating how reputation directly impacts board accountability. This escalating scrutiny requires directors who can navigate complex stakeholder relationships while maintaining strategic focus and delivering sustainable performance outcomes. Corporate Culture Accountability – corporate culture accountability has transformed from aspiration to a regulatory requirement. The events at Qantas, Mineral Resources, WiseTech and Nine Entertainment demonstrate that investors will hold boards accountable for cultural failures. Industry Super Funds have pioneered this change, with Aware Super requiring its fifty largest investments to answer eleven questions focusing specifically on conduct risk. This reflects broader stakeholder scrutiny, with over 10% of ASX 300 businesses receiving votes against their remuneration reports last year – the largest proportion since legislation was introduced.

With AI transformation being a key focus for organisations, maximising the opportunities lies in understanding the leadership requirements and the approach to people engagement. Derwent explored this critical topic with senior executives in Sydney last week at our AI and The People breakfast event, examining three areas shaping the future: How people functions can support AI transformation. How AI is reshaping people management and operations. How leadership and team recruitment criteria are evolving in an AI world. The panel discussion delivered practical insights on how leading organisations are navigating AI workforce transformation, including the real changes, challenges, and opportunities they're experiencing. We heard from Peter Tonagh , Chairman at Quantium, and Catherine Walsh , Group Chief People Officer at Qantas, who shared their perspectives on leading AI transformation we’re still learning to understand ourselves. Highlighting that as leaders we cannot wait for certainty, or we will remain behind. We must adapt to lead through more ambiguity than we have faced before. Key Themes & Takeaways The Leadership Imperative : AI represents a fundamental leadership moment defining competitive advantage, with success being 80% about people and 20% about technology. Discussion emphasised leaders must reimagine value creation, shift from the "department of no" to AI-enablers, and take a holistic approach addressing mindset, skillset, and toolset together. Leaders must become 'Chief Excitement Officers' providing permission with guardrails while managing cognitive load impacts within their organisations, recognising that employees will use AI regardless of policy and that organisations not offering AI tools will lose talent. Strategic Implementation and Human-AI Partnership : The conversation outlined starting everything with AI as the default approach, focusing on capability over tools and customer benefit through clear use cases as competitive necessity. Successful implementation augments human judgement with AI enhancing HR practices including performance management and coaching with examples of enhanced performance reviews and recruitment outcomes. Leaders must become conductors of human-AI teams through effective engagement, setting direction and making judgement calls while ensuring AI amplifies capabilities, maintaining oversight while AI tools help leaders become better coaches, and addressing bias as a user problem requiring active correction. Future Talent Strategy and Trust Evolution : Critical attributes for AI-ready talent emerged as curiosity, critical thinking, persistence, agility, and optimism, challenging myths about graduates who are actually more AI-attuned than before. The conversation addressed balancing innovation with care, building trust through transparency, and ensuring continuous evolution while maintaining human connection as irreplaceable. Discussion emphasised continuous tool evolution requiring adaptable capabilities, documenting and sharing learnings, and ensuring people develop judgment to question AI appropriately. These insights underscore the critical need for Australian business leaders to embrace AI strategically while overcoming conservative risk tolerance. The conversation provided a comprehensive roadmap for organisations navigating AI transformation, from immediate implementation challenges to longer-term competitive advantages that will define future success. Our thanks to Lindsay Every , Group Managing Partner at Derwent for hosting this panel discussion, and to our guest speakers and attendees for their valuable contributions. Continue the conversation We'd love to hear your perspective on this topic! For further insights or to explore how Derwent can help you or your organisation, connect with our team at sydney@derwentsearch.com.au . To express your interest for future Derwent events, please reach out to us at events@derwentsearch.com.au

On Wednesday 25 June, Derwent was delighted to host a breakfast event in Perth to discuss "Building Resilience for Organisational Excellence” . The event bought together over 50 senior HR leaders, offering a unique opportunity for professional development and networking. The session explored the question: How do we help leaders and organisations build resilience to deliver sustainable success? Today's business environments are more complex, and conventional notions of leadership are no longer fit for purpose. The challenges for leaders in 2025 are not just about making the right moves, but the ability to make them under extreme uncertainty – political and international tensions, market volatility, the ongoing evolution of AI, technological advancements, and shifting customer expectations. Layered into this are greater expectations and focus on regulatory changes, sustainability, transition to net zero and psychosocial safety – all while remaining focused on strategy, budgets and creating long-term value for shareholders, customers, teams and other stakeholders. We were joined by Ben Pronk , co-author of The Resilience Shield and a specialist in Risk, Resilience and Leadership in high pressure situations, and Megan McCracken , experienced Executive, Board Member and Leadership Coach. Ben and Megan shared their perspectives on: What makes a resilient leader? What are the signs of organisational resilience – green flags, red flags? How can we improve resilience in organisations to achieve better outcomes? What are the key considerations for talent – current and future? Some key themes and takeaways included: High functioning organisations are characterised by “agreeable disagreement”, where healthy conflict is fostered and a culture of “ritual dissent” is the norm. The relationships between Chair, Board and CEO play an important role in cultivating a resilient culture. They “set the tone to do the things they are here to do”. Decisions should have a strong link to the purpose and vision of the organisation. The adoption of personal mindfulness practices offers a huge opportunity to enhance performance through some relatively simple changes in approach. This is supported by scientific data and an important practice to share with leaders. Psychosocial safety has a significant impact on organisational resilience. Organisations that prioritise psychosocial safety are better equipped to navigate challenges, adapt to change and maintain high performance levels. Personal traits for resilience include internal calm, curiosity, self-efficacy, and courage to respectfully challenge – importantly, these traits can be cultivated and taught. Businesses that continue to invest in personal and organisational resilience and leadership through the cycles are the most likely to have sustainable success. We extend our thanks to Eliza Alford , Principal HR & Legal, and Mike O’Sullivan , Managing Partner, for hosting the event. A special thank you to our guest speakers, Ben and Megan, and to all attendees for contributing to such a valuable and engaging discussion. If you’re interested in learning more or attending a future event, get in touch with us at events@derwentsearch.com.au

Private Equity (PE) is orchestrating a fundamental shift in portfolio company leadership, with the implications reshaping organisations and C-suites across industries. As PE firms continue to adjust to a rapidly changing business landscape, their leadership strategies are evolving to meet new challenges and opportunities. The Strategic Imperative With uncertain exit timelines and valuations under increasing scrutiny, private equity owners are making decisive talent moves to position their assets for the next phase of growth. Many portfolio companies have been held for longer periods, and the need to be “investor-ready” requires an executive team that is future-focused, energised, and able to deliver tangible impact. The shift from traditional leadership to growth-driven teams has become a central component of these strategies. Critical Talent Trends