Board Stewardship LIVE Webinar – Guardians of Governance: Boardroom Stewardship Rooted in Ethics
The latest edition of the Board Stewardship LIVE Webinar Series, held on May 2, 2025, delved into the evolving responsibilities of Boards in today’s complex environment. The session called for a shift from checkbox compliance to value-driven leadership, highlighting the importance of ethical stewardship in modern governance.
Welcome and Inaugural Address
The event opened with an insightful welcome address by Vikesh Wallia, MD, and Editor at Board Stewardship. He underscored the need for Boards to adopt a more forward-thinking, responsible approach: “It’s time we moved beyond reactive governance to proactive guardianship. Boards must not only detect red flags—they must rise to become the red lines that preserve the organisation’s purpose and people.”
Following this, Burzin Dubash, President of the Institute of Internal Auditors – India and COO at Ankur Capital, gave his Inaugural Address. He remarked, “Governance isn’t just compliance—it’s stewardship of trust. Whether in startups chasing speed, family businesses balancing legacy, or MSMEs striving for scale, boards must guide with courage and conscience. Numbers may deceive, and codes may gather dust, but ethics must be lived from boardroom to shopfloor. Champions in business, like in sport, are built through discipline, awareness, and integrity. Let boards be not just watchdogs, but wise custodians of long-term value.”
Session 1: When Numbers Lie – How Boards Can Spot Financial Irregularities
Moderated by Abhijit Sanzgiri, Governance, Risk & Finance Professional, the first session explored how Boards can detect financial irregularities behind seemingly clean numbers. The panel featured:
- CA Lakshmi Rao, Forensic Auditing, Partner at Sarath & Associates, and Independent Director
- M.K. Sateesh, Independent Director on multiple Boards, Mentor, Advisor, and Speaker
Together, the speakers highlighted the need for Boards to develop financial vigilance rooted in ethical clarity.
Lakshmi Rao shared, “A harmonious relationship between Boards and management, continuous interactions with management, various committees, and risk assessment is essential for healthy Boards. Board members face ever-evolving challenges and need to adopt cutting-edge strategies, peer insights, and practical tools to tackle the complexities. Enhancing continuous vigilance, effective governance, and risk management for best practices enables complex decision making in public and private corporate boards.”
M.K. Sateesh stressed, “A moment of ethical lapse can cause irreversible damage. Boards must cultivate moral alertness—not just financial literacy. Appreciating the sessions he commented “we could delve deep into the subject and convey our opinion in a very lucid manner” and asked the question, do these numbers pass the conscience test?”
Abhijit Sanzgiri later concluded the session with his remarks stating, “Whenever there is a risk, it needs to be derisked and every risk can be derisked.” He further commented “anything can go wrong anytime, sometime & every time, it is hence imperative that we proactively plan and respond to events rather than react. Life is all about derisking to bloom and compound.”
Session 2: Translating the Code of Conduct – From Boardroom to Shopfloor
The second session, moderated by Yuvraj Datta, Director-Operations, Business Development & Process Excellence, Zeon Life Science Ltd, examined how Boards can ensure that ethical values are translated effectively across all levels of an organisation. The panel included:
- Dr. Anita Shantaram, Independent Director on Multiple Boards, Founder of Ethics India
- Indra Chourasia, Industry Advisor – BFSI, Tata Consultancy Services
Dr. Shantaram opened the discussion by emphasising the significance of living values through action, “A Code of Conduct is not a document—it’s a declaration of values. Its power lies in visibility and voice. She emphasised that “Ethical KPIs, champions of conscience and how boards need not just be guardians of compliance. How to create speak up culture were some of the interesting points covered.”
Indra Chourasia introduced his structured 7R model to help embed ethical principles within everyday business practices. He stated, “The 7Rs—Regimen; Resources; Representation; Reporting & Response; Reinforcing culture; Role models; Rigor & Realignment—offer a blueprint to cascade the Code of Conduct across layers. It’s not top-down—it’s value.” He further commented “as boards remain preoccupied with compliance box ticking, deal with ethical dilemmas and troubleshooting, employees struggle with basic code of conduct questions.”
Yuvraj Datta reinforced the need for shared responsibility across the organisation. He said, “Ethics and compliance is not a process piece, it’s a culture based on values, beliefs, and behaviours. This culture has now taken an extension to every level in the organisation to differentiate between ‘what is in one’s right to do’ and ‘what is right to do’. This is a classic ownership split between accountability and responsibility at every level. Interdependencies are a fuel to the organisations success. Keeping a dynamic approach by regularly reviewing and updating the code of conduct based on real-time case studies provides not only relevance to the core subject but also the much larger effectiveness in promoting ethical behaviour and fostering a positive workplace culture.”
Audience Engagement and Closing Reflections
Following both sessions, the speakers engaged with a highly participative audience, answering relevant and thought-provoking questions that highlighted the urgency and relevance of these themes in today’s Boardrooms.
In their closing reflections, the panellists reiterated the need for courage, clarity, and character at the highest levels of governance.
The webinar was supported by Knowledge Partner: BoardPAC and Corporate Partners: JSW Group, PL Capital, Universal Sompo General Insurance, DivaCygnet, Stanton Chase, JHS, and Relia Smart Global Advisory (FZE).
