ABSTRACT
The former directors of Equitable Life, a well-respected mutual insurer that effectively collapsed in 2001 due to unsustainable guarantees offered to certain investors, were sued for over £1 bn by the company for negligence. There is an element of prestige in being invited to join the Board of a well-known company, and this is one factor in bringing people on as the non-executive directors (NEDs). Career Development can be divided into two categories: those executives who are not yet on their Main Boards, and those who are (but are not yet group CEO). People below the Main Board of their employers are an excellent and somewhat untapped source of the independent non-executive directors (INEDs). By encouraging such people, with the support of their own Chairman and line management, to serve as NEDs we can hope to remedy the shortage of business-competent NEDs. Service as an INED also gives a fundamentally different focus from service as an executive.
