Secretariat

Kerrie Waring
Chief Executive Officer

Kerrie was appointed ICGN Chief Executive Officer in January 2014 where she leads ICGN’s work programme around the world after joining the company in 2008 as Chief Operating Officer. Under her tenure, Kerrie has transformed ICGN into a world leading governance and stewardship organisation led by investors responsible for assets of $77 trillion, based in over 40 countries.

A prominent governance commentator, Kerrie is a regular public speaker representing the global investor perspective on how governance and stewardship contribute to long-term value creation, ultimately contributing to sustainable economies, societies and the environment. She actively engages with regulators, standard setters and other capital market participants and has written extensively on governance and stewardship matters.

Kerrie serves as a Member of the Japan Financial Services Agency’s Council of Experts advising on corporate governance and investor stewardship reforms. She established the Global Network of Investor Associations in 2013 to convene the worlds most prominent investor bodies. She also established the Global Stewardship Code Network, an international group of regulators and others responsible for Code development in 2016 – both of which she chairs.

Prior to her appointment to ICGN in 2008, Kerrie directed high profile initiatives as Corporate Governance Manager at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to highlight the important role corporate reporting and auditing play as part of the corporate governance ecosystem. Earlier, she was International Professional Development manager at the UK Institute of Directors, where she established IoD International and the Global Director Development Circle (now known as the Global Network of Director Institutes).

Kerrie is a lead author of the IFC’s Global Director Training Toolkit (2002) which has helped establish governance associations around the world and co-authored the Handbook on International Corporate Governance (2004), among a series of other publications. Kerrie was named Rising Star of Corporate Governance by the Millstein School of Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management (2008). A chartered company secretary and fellow of ICSA, she holds a BA honors degree in international business and Japanese.

Carol Nolan Drake
Governance & Stewardship Policy Manager

Carol Nolan Drake, J.D.

Carol was named the Governance and Stewardship Policy Manager for ICGN in October 2021, in which she will support the Global Governance and Global Stewardship Committees, among other duties. She will continue her participation as a Faculty Member of the ICGN’s Education and Training programmes.

Carol is the CEO & Founder of Carlow Consulting, LLC, a business she started in January 2017 to provide consulting on corporate governance, ESG programs and reporting, federal legislative and regulatory matters. She is a licensed attorney.

Carol’s career began as an Assistant County Prosecutor and Assistant City Attorney. She served within the administrations of three Ohio governors, one as a Cabinet director and as Chair/Vice Chair on several boards and commissions. Carol was appointed to serve on the Board of Trustees for a large institutional investor, the Ohio Deferred Compensation Board, and the School Facilities Commission. She received four resolutions from Governors for excellence in public service and nominations for the Neil V. Toth Leadership Award. Carol received two Catalyst Team Awards, the Business and Professional Women’s Outstanding Woman in the Legal Profession award and the Governor’s All-Star Award for participation on the Joint Health Care Committee.

She served five years on the Council of Institutional Investors (CII) Board, including the positions of Treasurer and Chair of the Audit and Policies Committees. Carol was the co-Chair of the ICGN Shareholder Responsibilities Committee (SHREC) for three years, under which the Committee updated the Diversity on Boards and Share Lending Guidelines. She has authored several articles on governance and ESG best practices, and regularly speaks on corporate governance issues.

Carol is a cum laude graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Claude W. Pettit College of Law, Ohio Northern University.

Elizabeth Thomas
Events Director

Elle (Elizabeth) Thomas joined the ICGN in January 2016, as Head of Events and later headed up both communications and events. Now, as Operations & Events Director, she is responsible for a wide portfolio of activities including conferences, courses, academic meetings, press liaison, media partnerships, webinars, budgeting, I.T., data and other operational imperatives. Elle has extensive events research and management experience, having worked in this field for over ten years across a wide range of geographies and industries, but mainly focused on investments, pensions and tax issues.

Immediately prior to joining to the ICGN team, Elle was Head of Events Content for the financial services division at Incisive Media. She has an honours degree in Microbiology and Immunology from Kings College London, where she was awarded the Helen White prize for Microbiology. Although she enjoys reading about the latest scientific advances, her real passion lies in facilitating knowledge-sharing and development and she has a strong belief in the ICGN’s mission and principles. 

Paul Johnson
Head of Membership

Starting his career in the pharmaceutical industry, Paul spent several years working in the research centre of a major Swiss drug manufacturer, before returning to full time education. Paul joined the ICGN in February 2017 as Membership Co-ordinator. With many years’ experience in membership organisations including both the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Institute of Financial Accountants, Paul works both to increase the membership of the ICGN and provide a high level of care to our existing members. Paul also supports the wider ICGN Secretariat functions to provide the best membership experience for our members and the smooth running of membership operations.

Paul holds a BA (Hons) degree in Business Studies from the University of Middlesex from where he graduated in 1992.

Samantha Martin
Assistant Accountant

Sam joined the ICGN team in November 2019 as Finance Administrator. Her responsibilities include processing all sales and purchase invoices as well as managing all delegate registrations.

Prior to joining ICGN, Sam has worked in various finance roles for over 9 years in both the media and facilities industries. Sam studied accountancy at Kaplan College.

Hannah Gardner
Events Manager

Hannah joined ICGN in July 2022 as Education & Events Coordinator working across the Education and Events teams. In June 2023 she was promoted to Events Manager working across planning and logistics for ICGN flagship conferences. 

Hannah has worked with membership and non profit organisations for 20 years, specialising in member focused events ranging from 2000 delegate, multi stream conferences to intimate networking dinners. She has also worked on backstage branding areas and events within the music industry.

Kate Webster
Marketing Manager

Kate joined the ICGN team in March 2023 as Marketing Manager. Her responsibilities include creating and delivering marketing plans to maximise the impact of ICGN’s activities, in collaboration with colleagues across the organisation. 

An experienced marketing professional, Kate has a background with non profit membership organisations that includes working with charities, a trade association, a students’ union, professional bodies, Chartered institutions and most recently professional regulator Engineering Council.