How Dentalcorp's assistant corporate secretary eliminated hours of manual work with Diligent Boards

Modern Governance 100 honoree Suzanne VanSligtenhorst is the Director of Corporate Governance and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Dentalcorp Health Services Ltd. Their mission is to become the largest network of dental practices in Canada.

But the work of a corporate secretary isn’t easy. Preparing minute meetings, distributing materials to busy directors, ensuring best cybersecurity practices are in place, and organizing documents are just a few of the complex challenges VanSligtenhorst faces on a regular basis.

“Corporate secretary is a really heavy role,” VanSligtenhorst said. “It comes with a lot of responsibility, and I think that’s what good governance is — it’s about understanding the significance of that role.”

With Diligent Boards, VanSligtenhorst is able to streamline work for herself and her directors by:

• Using efficient agenda-building features that link to previous minutes
• Organizing board materials with customizable document libraries that keep confidential documents secure
• Eliminating time-consuming paper-based board meeting processes

Diligent has empowered Dentalcorp with better board functioning, allowing its directors to access the materials they need before and during the meeting, so they can do their jobs well — and freeing up VanSligtenhorst’s time for more strategic tasks.

“Without Diligent Boards,” VanSligtenhorst said, “you’d be back in the days of having to sit there in a photocopy room with binders — and that’s just not useful work. That’s not high-value work for a governance professional.”

Learn more about Diligent Boards.