From manual risk registers to board-ready oversight: How CBCL modernized governance with Diligent

CBCL Limited runs more than 2,000 projects a year across 13 offices in Atlantic Canada. By bringing board governance, enterprise risk and IT compliance together on a connected Diligent platform, the organization gained clearer visibility into risk, strengthened oversight and reduced reliance on manual processes.

General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Melanie McGrath led the transformation using Diligent Boards, AI Risk Essentials and IT Risk Management.

The challenge: From manual registers to meaningful risk oversight

CBCL's board already had the fundamentals, a committed board and an established committee structure, but the system ran on manual effort and on people simply remembering where things lived.

Materials sat on a shared site with access managed by hand, agendas and minutes weren’t packaged together. Directors printed documents to review them, which McGrath called out as a future potential security risk.

On the risk side, a one-off workshop had produced a register that nobody scored or updated again, leaving mitigation informal and dependent on a handful of executives.

The solution: Embedding Diligent at the heart of governance and risk

Diligent Boards gave directors one secure portal to open board books, review materials ahead of time and see exactly what changed since the last update, enough for CBCL to move its minutes onto the consent agenda for the first time.

"By putting everything into Diligent, we've placed it all in a secure environment where people can access it remotely and make their own notes." 

Melanie Ann McGrath, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, CBCL Limited

CBCL then used AI Risk Essentials to give operational managers ownership of the risks they were best positioned to manage, creating greater accountability and visibility across the organization. Built-in benchmarking surfaced gaps fast, including legacy personal data CBCL no longer needed to hold, which led directly to a structured data purge.

That same foundation is now carrying CBCL into Diligent IT Risk Management to support its ISO 27001 work.

The results: Stronger board governance with clearer visibility into risk

• Improved visibility into 92 organizational risks, with clear ownership and documented mitigation plans reducing reliance on institutional knowledge.
• Freed up board time for more strategic discussions by moving board minutes onto the consent agenda for the first time.
• Strengthened risk and compliance practices by identifying cyber and privacy blind spots earlier through AI-powered benchmarking.

"Diligent AI Risk Essentials was properly priced, quick to deploy and simple to learn, enhancing our enterprise risk management program and delivering immediate value to all stakeholders." 

Melanie Ann McGrath, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, CBCL Limited

What began as a move away from printed packets, shared folders and static spreadsheets evolved into a connected approach to governance, risk and compliance.

Today, board oversight, enterprise risk management and IT compliance work together on a single platform, giving CBCL greater visibility, accountability and confidence as the organization grows.

Want to see how it all came together?

Download the CBCL case study to discover how connected governance and risk management helped CBCL strengthen oversight, improve visibility and support compliance goals.