Boardroom Consulting

Board Advisory
Corporate Governance
Director Nominations
Board Reviews

The effectiveness of the Board has a major impact on a company’s sustainability of success and value-creation. Board effectiveness itself, is heavily influenced by a range of factors such as:

Level of alignment on purpose for the Board.
Putting into practice of processes of Corporate Governance.
Role of the Chairman.
Characteristics and capabilities of the individual Board Members.
Engagement of the Committees.
Dynamics around the Boardroom table.

Johan Brand Leadership Advisory (‘JBLA’) works with Chairmen and Family Heads to strengthen their Boards’ capabilities and to enhance their Boards’ effectiveness.

JBLA operates in a bespoke manner, relevant to the specific needs of companies in the GCC Region, be it in a stock-listed, family-owned or government-related environment.

JBLA’s Boardroom Consulting comprises various degrees of intensity and depth, tailored to what is required and relevant for the client:

In generic Board Advisory, we are functioning as an objective and independent ‘sounding board’ for a Chairman. This often is aimed at enhancing the ability to better leverage individual expertise and collective dynamics in the Boardroom.
When advising on Corporate Governance, we take into account the formulated governance procedures of an organization and advise on how to implement them effectively.
Board Succession and Director Nominations often benefit from our objective, professional insights and guidance on ensuring sustainable and relevant Board leadership capabilities.
JBLA conducts thorough Board Effectiveness Reviews that deliver actionable and valuable recommendations to improve the Board’s collective governance leadership.

CEO/CxO Search and Succession

Prioritization of Needs
Selection of Support
Guidance of Search Process
Candidate Review
Integration

Appointing the right CEO is generally regarded to be among the most important decisions for a Board. A successful CEO appointment has significant impact on a company internally, as well as on its markets externally. However, getting an appointment wrong could lead to disastrous consequences for a company’s morale, sustainability and value. This makes carefully conducted CEO transitions of high importance.

Johan Brand Leadership Advisory (‘JBLA’) objectively guides processes of CEO/CxO search and succession. We bring high value from our deep-rooted executive search and business experience. This strongly enhances the chances of successful appointments.

We work closely with Nomination Committees and/or Chairmen to establish well-guarded selection and integration processes. We conduct the executive search or coordinate the efforts of external search partners if relevant. We ensure that all are aimed at, objectively, finding the most relevant candidate from a pool of internal and/or external alternatives; either building on a long-term well-planned leadership transition or acting on an urgent replacement need.

JBLA offers an integrated approach through the following ‘Five Stages of Search and Succession Management’ when and where relevant:

Prioritization of Needs, as the first step to map out the most essential factors which will come into play when engaging in a CEO/CxO-succession process.
Selection of Support, to define who is leading the succession process internally; also (co-) selecting the most relevant external search partner.
Guidance of the Search Process, to enhance the effectiveness of the internal and/or external search for candidates.
Candidate Review, channeling the final candidates (incl. reference checking and cross-checking of psychometric analysis) to ensure that the most relevant candidate will be appointed.
Integration, supporting the appointed candidate towards successful performance in the role, which will allow to maximize impact as soon as possible.

Leadership Guidance

Assessment
Development and Alignment
Career Guidance
NextGen Coaching

Today’s ever changing challenges and uncertainties demand a highly effective CEO and CxO team to successfully lead a company.

It is a principal duty of a Board to ensure that their company is equipped with a relevant leadership that acts in the best interest of the company and its shareholders. From this perspective, a pro-active approach towards Executive Assessment, Development and Guidance is an investment with a high return.

Johan Brand has assessed hundreds of executives: CEO’s, C-level, n-1 and n-2; in the Middle East, Europe and US geographies; for major stock-listed companies, family-owned, and leading Private Equity firms.

These assessments of key Executives focus on their experience, current capabilities and future potential to lead at a bigger scale, with more complexity and demands.

The assessments deliver objective input for important decision making processes on leadership appointments, career developments and buy/non-buy decisions.

Johan Brand Leadership Advisory (‘JBLA’), as a fully independent firm, is then in a unique position to provide highly dedicated and bespoke Executive Guidance, including:

Development and Alignment of selected Executives: a) individually, based on agreed development needs that have been indicated and prioritized in their Assessment feedback; b) collectively, through workshops with Leadership Teams, aligning them on company’s values, objectives, strategies, priorities and action plans for delivering desired business results.
Career Guidance, which is helpfully facilitating the most relevant decision making processes that a talented (future) executive faces when on the move to the C-suite.
NextGen Coaching in Family-owned environments, where often specifically the 3rd and 4th Generation is being faced with the need to make important trade-offs between expectations, capability building and personal interests.

Fully Independent Advisory

In the GCC Region

Johan Brand Leadership Advisory (‘JBLA’) is privately owned. It is uniquely positioned to support distinct demand for independent guidance on decisions about (board) leadership and on the development and alignment of high-level executives in organizations.

Many organizations in the GCC Region encounter the necessity to enhance their leadership capabilities and alignment at Board and Executive level. This is all the more imminent as they are dealing with the challenges and opportunities of the Region’s need to expand its economy beyond oil and as many family-owned businesses need to plan for and engage in NextGen succession.

Decisions on leadership often involve people matters, which are complex to deeply understand. However, at the same time, decisions involving people matters are among the most impactful to enhance sustainable success and value-creation of an organization.

Advising on the input and processes for these decisions on and by leadership, as well as the development and alignment of top executives, requires high levels of confidentiality and trust. Therefore, at times, a fully independent boutique advisory firm would be the preferred option.

Established at the end of 2016, JBLA works as a fully independent, high-end leadership advisory for clients in the GCC-Region. The firm works with selected, highly qualified professionals who enhance JBLA’s value proposition wherever important for its clients.

JBLA has been specifically founded to add value to the Region’s further development through enhancing leadership and corporate governance.

The Founder: Johan Brand

Who?

Johan Brand is a well-experienced leadership advisor in the Middle East. His Board and Executive advisory competence, combined with his top-level business expertise, is greatly sought after by his clients.

What?

Johan Brand advises Chairmen and family heads, and guides CxOs to success. He leads the fully independent firm Johan Brand Leadership Advisory DWC-LLC.

How?

Johan Brand has evolved a personable and analytical style, working in an engaging and bespoke manner. He prefers to operate within the highest levels of confidentiality and trust.

Professional Background

Johan Brand holds a MSc in Business Economics, an LL.M. in Corporate Law, and an LL.M. in Private Law, all from Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

He started his career in commercial leadership positions with Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo in Europe.

After 9 years, in 1995, he transferred to a privately held executive search firm, Egon Zehnder. Johan Brand initially operated from Amsterdam and, since 2008, further developed his career as Senior Partner in Dubai.

At the end of 2016, he established Johan Brand Leadership Advisory DWC-LLC (‘JBLA’) as an independent, high-end leadership and corporate governance advisory firm in the GCC-Region.

Johan Brand has been granted the Professional Director Certification from Mudara Institute of Directors in the MENA-Region and he is a certified Leadership Circle Practitioner.

He is a Member of the Board’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee at Ma'aden; a Member of The Savola Group Board’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee; a Member of the Board and Chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee at Cenomi Centers (former Arabian Centers Company); Chairman of the Board’s Nomination, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee of Nesma Co.; a Member of the Board of Nesma United Industries; and a Member of the Remuneration & Nomination Committee of Ghobash Trading & Investment Co.

Previously, he held NRC Memberships at Saudi Telecom Company (stc) and ACWA Power, and Board and RNCG Committee memberships at Nesma Airlines and Rabya Trading & Agriculture Company.

Johan Brand was published in the Hawkamah Journal on Corporate Governance and Leadership, issue 10. The article, which you can read here, is intended to stimulate a constructive discussion around the boardroom table on the value of independent board members.

Contact Us

Johan Brand Leadership Advisory DWC-LLC
PO Box 214337
Business Center
Dubai World Central
Dubai – United Arab Emirates

[email protected]