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Article by Abdulaziz Al-Oudan, Vice President Huma...

Article by Abdulaziz Al-Oudan, Vice President Human Resources, SABIC

Priming SABIC’s board for success

 

Our SABIC Board Charter emphasises the importance of board evaluation, which also includes the evaluation of the board subcommittees. There is an annual internal board evaluation process and we also conduct an external board evaluation, which includes assessing ‘board dynamics’.

The Board Nomination and Compensation Committee evaluates the board and its subcommittees as follows:

  • Annually reviewing the skills and expertise required of the board members and the Executive Management.
  • Reviewing the structure of the board and the executive management and providing recommendations regarding changes that may be made to these structures
  • Annually ensuring the independence of Independent Directors and the absence of any conflicts of interests
  • Determining the strengths and weaknesses of the board and recommending remedy solutions that serve the company’s interests.

The SABIC board has adopted the most advanced technology to enhance its effectiveness – by using the most advanced IT applications and solutions that enable the board to exercises its roles effectively, this includes enhancing the readiness and accessibility of board documents and the communication of the board members.

There are also more factors that contribute to board performance, such as designing board training that is conducted on a regular basis to identify the contemporary issues of the industries that the company operates within, as well as addressing recent developments on the business and financial markets.

Training programmes are conducted at board level, as well as the subcommittee levels. Furthermore, the SABIC Board General Secretariat is one of the board’s main tools for enhancing its effectiveness by providing the support needed to the board, which includes providing independent opinion to the board on corporate governance matters.

SABIC has participated in the development of the petrochemicals industry not only locally but globally too. We always aim to play a significant role in enhancing business practices that are related to our many industries.

Our company does not differentiate between men and women when it comes to hiring opportunities. The main factor in the matter is the competencies, and the ability of the applicant (man or woman) to meet the requirements of the vacant job, and the same principle is also applied to our board representation.

SABIC strongly believes in the importance of governance, as good governance means good business. What’s more, SABIC participated in founding GCC BDI and offers ongoing support to its programmes and initiatives.

GCC BDI has successfully promoted the importance of governance in the GCC and has encouraged notably better practices of corporate governance across the region.

 

About Abdulaziz Al-Oudan

Abdulaziz Al-Oudan has been Executive Vice President of SABIC’s Corporate Human Resources since May 2015. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Jubail United Petrochemicals Co. As a member of SABIC’s leadership team, he contributes towards the formulation and implementation of overall business strategies, plans and implementing an optimum organisation structure.


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