From Oversight to Foresight: Strategy in the Boardroom

Our next discussion in the "Virtual Boardroom" series for 2026 will be From Oversight to Foresight: Strategy in the Boardroom. These engaging members-only discussions are an opportunity for our community to learn from experienced practioners and meet virtually for networking and sharing knowledge on specific board themes.

Strategy is one of the most important, and at times, the most challenging and complex areas for a board to oversee effectively.

Boards need to challenge management's thinking, test whether the assumptions behind the strategy still hold and recognise when changes in the external environment may require a different direction. But how do experienced directors do this in practice, without crossing the line into management?

In this practical discussion, our panellists will draw on their own experience of serving on boards to explore:

• What does 'good' strategic challenge look like? We will explore how directors ask the difficult questions, challenge management constructively and add value without becoming involved in the running of the business.

• How to test the assumptions behind a strategy? What should boards be looking for when assessing management's strategic plans, and how can directors use scenarios, external perspectives and alternative viewpoints to challenge conventional thinking?

• When does strategy need reframing? What are the early signals that boards should watch out for to determine a change in direction, whether due to changes in technology, competition, geopolitics, regulation or the broader market?

• How does the board stay close enough to execution? Once a strategy has been agreed, what should directors monitor to understand whether it is delivering, and when should the board challenge management to adapt or rethink the strategy?

• The role of AI in strategic foresight: How can boards use AI to challenge assumptions, explore scenarios and anticipate strategic risks and opportunities without becoming over-reliant on the technology?

  
  

Our discussion will focus on real boardroom experiences, practical questions and lessons learned from our panellists' experiences of having served on and/or collaborated with boards.

Moderator:

Reema Desai, Co-Founder - Impact Boards EM

About the Speakers:

As the founder of Board Excellence, Kieran Moynihan has worked extensively with boards across Ireland, UK and internationally in a wide range of sectors and scale of organisations. He has over 25 years’ experience serving on boards as a CEO, Executive Director, Non-Executive Director and Board Chair. He is currently the Board Chair of several internationally focused companies across various industry sectors.

Kieran is an internationally recognised thought leader in board dynamics, effectiveness, performance and corporate governance. He is a regular contributor to leading international board publications and has developed ground-breaking new approaches to optimising the “people equation of the board” and the partnership between executive and non-executive board members, enabling the board and executive team to excel as a high-performing team..

View Kieran's LinkedIn profile here

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Kweku Awotwi is currently the Board Chairman of United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Ltd, the Africa Sustainable Energy Centre (ASEC), the Multimedia Group Ltd in Ghana, and the non-profit sports for development organisation, Playsoccer Ghana which he co founded in 1999. He has been the past Board Chairman of Stanbic Bank (Ghana) Ltd (2012-2018), and Ghana’s Volta River Authority (2017-2021).

An electrical engineer by training, Kweku started out his career designing integrated circuits for ITT and GE/RCA in the United States. After his MBA, he has been primarily involved in the energy and mining industries. He was a Manager, Business Planning for the Primary Aluminum Unit of Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation in Oakland, California; Managing Director of New Business & Strategic Planning, Ashanti Goldfields Company Ltd, Accra, London; Chief Executive office of the Volta River Authority 2009-2013, and Executive Vice President of Tullow Oil plc. in London, England, which he left in 2020.

In between corporate assignments, he has been involved in several entrepreneurial ventures that include a US$1 Billion 375 MW independent power project, Cenpower Generation, which he co-founded and developed, and has been in commercial operation since 2019; a gold mining company listed in Hong Kong, an oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company focused on Africa; and a smart meter manufacturing company built in Northern Nigeria.

Kweku has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford, California, and a B.S in Electrical Engineering, Economics and Political Science from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

View Kweku's LinkedIn profile here