February 13, 2012

Corporate Secretary Magazine: The Role of an Ombudsman in Supporting a Company's Compliance Efforts

The online version of the periodical for corporate secretaries, general counsel, and governance professionals recently interviewed Jon McBride on the benefits of an Ombuds program. McBride told Aarti Maharaj, Deputy Editor at Corporate Secretary Magazine, why Ombuds are an important complement to formal corporate reporting mechanisms. 


You have one cohort of directors: "I'm terrified of what I don't know." And you have another cohort of employees that know things and don't know who to tell. How do you marry up those two interests? The organizational ombudsman is a terrific solution to that. The board members don't need to know the source of issue; they do need to trust their intermediary. That the intermediary will sort the wheat from the chaff and will only bring issues to them that will command their attention. 
Jon McBride is a corporate governance consultant that has written previously about the role of the Ombuds. (Corporate Secretary Magazine.)

No comments:

Post a Comment