Welcome to April. Where has the year gone, now in Autumn! Now we just need the rain to subside!

What a great lunch & interactive crowd for our recent March luncheon with an informative update on the NBN. Thanks again Nicole.

Our April luncheon approaches and will take place on the second last Friday of this month where Margot Richardson will be presenting on all things ESG - compliance update on Environmental, Social and Governance matters. A great number of contracts, tenders, and of course grants require this element in their submission.

Margot’s passion is to help Boards and Directors develop strong skills in governance, financial management, understanding risks and creating great strategic platforms to grow and strengthen organisations. Margot’s second passion is helping small and medium businesses reflect on the way they do business so as to ensure they grow in a healthy sustainable manner.

Margot is a Non-Executive, Chair, Company Secretary, Director, Audit Committee Member and CFO with over twenty years of board-level experience with particular working with Government, NfP and Commercial organisations and within the Consultancy, Telecom, Health, Community, Education, Environmental and Indigenous sectors.

At board level Margot drives governance compliance for sustainable growth. She does that by leveraging her knowledge in financial management, governance, accounting, fiscal responsibility, risk management, strategy development and implementation.

Board level highlights include Audit Committee Member at Queensland Ombudsman; Treasurer at Queensland Rural Regional & Remote Women's Network; Company Secretary and Member of Finance, Audit and Risk Committee at Southern Gulf NRM; Chair of Finance and Audit Committee at Cape York Sustainable Futures, and as an Independent Director, Community Enterprise Queensland during my tenure Margot oversaw the business grow from a $50M to $126M turnover and the workforce from 120 to 370 employees.

In an executive capacity, Margot is currently the Director of Business Mapping Solutions – a bespoke governance and accounting practice focusing on supporting Indigenous corporations, not for profits and entrepreneurial ventures. In addition, I serve as the CFO of Miwatj Employment and Participation Ltd, two large Indigenous Organisations with turnovers of $26M and $10M. Finally, Margot holds a Bachelor of Economics from ANU, is a Certified Practising Accountant and a Graduate of AICD’s Company Directors Course. Margot has also been awarded the NFP Accountant of the Year 2020 by the Australian Accounting Awards.

Come along and brush up your Governance skills; a critical area of business.

Once again, this will be a most informative, not-to-be-missed lunch providing you with both personal & professional development your business and some great networking and we look forward to seeing you there.