HISTORY

1995 - As an executive at a major Canadian financial institution, Michael Gunns was asked to revitalize the auditing activity - to change it from "checking up on people" to become a powerful agent for change. Working with Laurie Lawson and others, he introduced a workshop process, enabling participants to quickly identify roadblocks to peak performance and to craft action plans to address them. Over the next five years, he and his team conducted over one hundred of these workshops at front-line, middle management and executive levels - establishing a North American "Centre of Excellence" for this process and teaching it to other companies in the global organization.
Their work expanded to including more complex sessions focused on building strategic and operational alliances between organizational silos and to working with customer groups, distributors and management to align priorities and delivery systems.

2000 - Michael and Laurie decided to use these skills in a consulting capacity with clients in Canada and the United States, principally in the financial services, energy, health care and professional services sectors.

2002 - A major insurer asked Michael if the facilitated approach could be used to revitalize their board assessment process which, though long-established, lacked energy and had become an annual obligation rather than a vehicle for change.

2003/ 2005 - Subsequent engagements with other boards have enabled Michael and Laurie to maximize the impact and efficiency of this process and to offer it in different formats, tailored to a particular board's needs, together with customized sessions focused on specific developmental priorities.

THE TEAM

Both Laurie and Michael have become ardent students of "good governance", through their active participation in the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries and through Michael's continuing work with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Their dedication to governance is enhanced by their collaboration with Mark Wexler. Working with Mark helps ensure that the Gunns Group's services are state-of-the-art, and are informed by the latest research and best practices. Mark performs client engagements in conjunction with Michael and Laurie when circumstances call for his specialist and in-depth knowledge and experience.

Michael Gunns
Michael is former Chair of the Risk Management and Governance Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. This board has published documents such as: Crisis Management for Directors; Managing Risk in the New Economy; and Dealing with Risk in the Boardroom. Michael currently chairs a CICA task force of prominent Canadian CFO's, which recently published: Strategic Planning - What Boards Should Expect from CFO's; and Financial Aspects of Governance. He was a judge for the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants' 2002 Corporate Governance Award.

Michael is a Chartered Accountant and a graduate of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. He has previously held executive positions at Zurich Canada and Sun Life. His clients include BC Hydro, Potomac Electric Energy Company, Co-operators Insurance Group, the Canadian Public Accountability Board and major credit unions.


Laurie Lawson
Laurie is an expert at applying anonymous polling technology to complex situations and to a variety of participant groups. As an experienced co-facilitator, she is also skilled in all aspects of meeting design and implementation. She works regularly with executive groups, including Boards of Directors.

Laurie is certified by OptionFinder© Technologies in the advanced use of polling hardware and software. She has also received formal training in consensus building and conflict resolution, and holds a Diploma in Accounting and a Research Analyst Post Diploma Certificate from Sheridan College. Laurie has provided services to Enbridge, Pharmacia, Manitoba Health, the Workers Compensation Board of Saskatchewan and the Ontario Health Association.

Mark Wexler
Mark is Professor of Management and Organization Studies in the Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University. Mark's research, consulting and teaching focus upon the humane use of human beings in competitive contexts, and his published work has appeared in four books and over 75 periodicals.

Mark presently sits on editorial boards for three academic bodies, the board of directors of two not-for-profit organizations and the advisory council of a trade association. He has consulted for diverse organizations in the public and private sectors, including IBM Canada, General Motors Canada, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Bank of Montreal and Weston Foods.

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