Man at centre of secret world knows what it takes to sit on the board

If anyone is familiar with what happens inside the closed world of the Irish boardroom, it is Mr Kevin O'Connell. As director of the Irish Boardroom Centre, he plays a significant part in getting people into those boardrooms in the first place.

The non-profit organisation he heads is the only central agency helping companies locate suitable non-executive directors and chairpeople for their boards. Over the last four years, the centre has worked with about 400 companies.

His position makes him keenly aware of what modern firms look for when they make this important decision.

"Companies nowadays want value for money and not just some guy who is going to turn up once a year, drink some wine and then leave again," he says.

The Boardroom Centre compiles a register of up to 400 individuals, most with considerable experience heading large companies, who are interested in taking up non-executive directorships.

The centre, while non-profit making, is sponsored by several banks, among them Bank of Ireland, and is increasingly regarded as a significant player in the world of boardroom recruitment.

Companies are charged a fee of 25 per cent of the sum paid to a director in his or her first year on the board. The minimum charge is £2,000.

To get onto the register, an individual has to meet Mr O'Connell and assure him they have the adequate experience and skills.

Mr O'Connell, a quiet spoken, Cork-born electrical engineer, is then centrally involved in matching them with the companies who want new board members.

While he gives little away about his selection methods, he says that meetings with the applicants seek to "get behind" the figures relating to the performance of the companies they previously worked with.

"The board of the average company now is a lot more ambitious than say 20 years ago and this extends to bringing in outsiders."

He admits that some family-controlled private companies are extremely slow to take this route. However, companies with flotation plans have to take on non-executive directors, as this is a requirement of becoming a plc.

Mr O'Connell is a non-executive director of Kingspan plc, the building materials group, and is on the board of several other companies.

"I would like to think my own experiences help me to identify strengths in other potential board members," he says.

He emphasises that one thing he has learned from his own boardroom experience and foreign business ventures in Hungary and Botswana, is that the calibre of individual business people in Ireland compares admirably with anywhere he has been.

He acknowledges that the size of the business community here results in a small pool of potential directors and means the larger plcs rely on what he calls "networks" to get the non-executive director they want.

"The top 10 plcs know there are only a handful of people with the required experience to sit on their boards, so they know exactly who is available."

He strongly rejects the accusation that some people take on directorships simply as a financially lucrative hobby.

He dismisses suggestions that Irish boards are secretive or eager to hide details from shareholders, particularly information relating to directors' remunerations.

"All public companies now give an aggregate figure for what their directors are paid over a year," he says. However, he does not accept this contrasts unfavourably with the situation in Britain where the remuneration for each individual director is disclosed to shareholders.

"Why should everybody be allowed to know what directors earn? We have to be careful people's privacy is not invaded."

After 37 years in business, his views are based on wide experience. He has done everything from overseeing RTE television transmitters to supervising lending at ICC, where he was general manager, corporate services.

"The biggest change I've witnessed is technology which has changed the way we all operate."

He recalls the first computer he saw and how it had flashing green lights and everyone had to ask permission to use it. Another change in business behaviour in recent years is that companies now "throw a lot more money around", but he does not think this means decisions are rashly made. "A lot more acquisitions and deals are undertaken now, but they are still thought about for a long time by the boards in most companies."

Mr O'Connell maintains that the risk element in takeovers can be reduced by bringing in a non-executive director with specific expertise.

"If a company is moving into a new industry then this type of person is beneficial to any board," he says.

So what other attributes do outside non-executive directors have to offer a company?

"They can step back and see things with some perspective; a chief executive who is mired in the business on a day-by-day basis cannot necessarily do this," he says.

He says his job at the centre is enjoyable although sometimes the process of selection on behalf of a company can be complex. But he brings to bear his own experience working on banking projects over long periods in Botswana and Hungary.

He describes these assignments as very important in his career.