Governing in a changing operating environment: risks, pressures and planning

Workshop

Speaker(s): Judene Edgar, Sanel Tomlinson
Date: 5:00pm — 7:00pm, 5 August 2026
Venue: Southland Business Chamber
Location: 25 Don Street, Invercargill
Price members: $40.00 incl GST
Price non-members: $60.00 incl GST

This event covers Chapter Zero New Zealand content, supporting directors to strengthen their capability in climate governance.

Chapter Zero NZ supporters receive the IoD member price for this event with the code SUPPORTER5AUG. Not a Chapter Zero supporter, become a supporter here.

Overview

Presented by Judene Edgar, Principal Governance Adviser with the IoD’s Governance Leadership Centre and Chapter Zero NZ lead, and sustainability and risk expert Sanel Tomlinson, this session brings together deep governance, finance and strategic risk expertise. Drawing on extensive board, advisory and assurance experience, they will share practical approaches to help directors respond to increasing operational and strategic disruption. Judene and Sanel will be joined by a local director to be announced.

Workshop Overview:
Boards are dealing with real-time disruption — from fuel supply issues and severe weather events, to shifting trade settings and increasing pressure in lending and insurance. These are affecting operations, costs and continuity.

For many directors, these issues are not just showing up in the boardroom, but in the day-to-day running of the business. The challenge isn’t necessarily awareness, but knowing where to focus, what matters most, and how to respond in a practical way.

This session introduces a practical governance approach designed to help boards and leadership teams to cut through the noise. It focuses on how to:

identify the issues most relevant to your organisation, including pressures linked to energy, water, supply chains, and changing expectations from banks, customers and regulators
take stock of what you are already doing and where the gaps are
link these pressures to strategy and planning
build a clear, proportionate plan without overcomplicating the response

The session will focus on practical governance approaches that support better decision-making, stronger oversight and more resilient organisations, while also introducing useful tools and resources to support ongoing board discussions and planning.

This event is brought to you by the Otago Southland Branch in partnership with the Southland Business Chamber.

Judene Edgar

CMInstD

Judene is a Principal Governance Adviser with the Institute of Directors’ Governance Leadership Centre and Chapter Zero NZ lead providing best practice advice, guidance and advocacy for directors. She is also chair of the Nelson Historic Theatre Trust, deputy chair of the Rātā Foundation, and a trustee for the Network Tasman Trust.

Prior to joining the IoD she ran her own consultancy for over 20 years, specialising in governance, policy, strategy and communications working across a wide range of sectors, including housing, health, solid waste, aviation, energy, not-for-profit and infrastructure.

Judene was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to governance, local government and the community in the 2026 New Year Honours. She was a local government elected member for 12 years and a director on a range of private and public entity boards. She has a background in behavioural science and communications and is a Chartered Member of the IoD.

Sanel Tomlinson

Working at the intersect of strategy, risk, finance and assurance, Sanel understands the importance of ensuring your sustainability ambitions are integrated into all aspects of the business to support robust and connected financial and sustainability reporting.

She is an expert in her field and effortlessly cut through the complexity and volume of local and international frameworks, standards and guidance to deliver practical solutions. She regularly delivers governance and executive training sessions, facilitate workshops and present to diverse audiences on finance and sustainability topics.

Sanel’s previous experience include: audit and assurance of financial reports, financial management, standard-setting, and nearly 20 years as a Partner at KPMG in New Zealand, London and Hong Kong.

She holds a Certificate of Public Practice and have completed CAANZ’s risk specialisation course. She has also completed certifications in Sustainability and Climate Risk, and Risk and AI through the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Additional information

Should you have any dietary, mobility, cultural or other requirements, you can let us know on the registration form.

By registering for this event you are confirming that you agree to adhere to our event terms and conditions.

Branch event cancellation policy

Regrettably, registration fees cannot be refunded when cancellations are received within two working days prior to any branch event. See our standard terms and conditions for more information.