Suzanne VanSligtenhorst is Director of Corporate Governance and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Discovery Mining, a publicly traded precious metals company based in Toronto. In this video, she explains how her team moved board approvals, effectiveness surveys and director questionnaires off paper and email and into Diligent Boards.
Customer at a glance
- Industry: Mining (precious metals)
- Location: Toronto-headquartered, with operations in Ontario and Mexico
- Job title: Director of Corporate Governance and Assistant Corporate Secretary
- Diligent solutions: Diligent Boards, Diligent Boards Pro and D&O Questionnaires module
Key takeaways
- Board surveys and D&O questionnaires done in minutes, not days: Digitizing the board effectiveness survey and D&O questionnaire through the D&O module means future cycles only require copying and resending the form, cutting a manual task down to a matter of minutes.
- No more chasing paper signatures: The team used to stamp documents and physically circulate them for signature. By using the create vote function in Diligent Boards, the team turned a manual signature process into a huge time saver for everyone involved.
- Sensitive documents no longer on email: Director materials used to circulate by email, even on secure company accounts. Housing everything in Diligent Boards instead reduces risk and supports compliance.
- A lighter administrative load for directors: With agendas getting longer and meetings more frequent, moving routine tasks into one platform frees directors to spend less time on paperwork and more time on strategy.
- Analytics that turn survey data into insight: The Boards Pro analytics feature turns board effectiveness survey results into something the team can actually act on, rather than a stack of completed forms.
"By partnering with Diligent, I am able to make my directors' lives easier and allowing them to do their job effectively between board meetings."
Suzanne VanSligtenhorst, Director of Corporate Governance and Assistant Corporate Secretary, Discovery Mining
How Diligent helped
Discovery Mining was already using Diligent Boards when Suzanne joined, giving her a foundation to build on rather than a system to introduce from scratch. She pushed usage further by upgrading to Boards Pro and adding the D&O module to digitize processes that had stayed on paper and in email. With Boards Pro and the D&O module, the team streamlined board approvals, effectiveness surveys and director questionnaires that had traditionally been managed through paper and email.
- Challenge: D&O questionnaires and board resolutions signed by stamping and physically circulating paper documents.
- Solution: The create vote function in Diligent Boards plus Boards Pro and the D&O module for surveys and questionnaires.
- Outcome: Signature turnaround cut from physical circulation to a secure process, with future survey cycles down to minutes.
"The big one, which is such a funny one, is getting signatures on documents. I would literally put a stamp on and circulate it physically for signature."
Suzanne VanSligtenhorst, Director of Corporate Governance and Assistant Corporate Secretary, Discovery Mining
See what's possible for your organization
If your board is still relying on paper signatures and email for sensitive documents and D&O processes, Diligent Boards and Boards Pro with D&O Questionnaires can help you move those processes into one secure platform and give your governance professionals and directors valuable time back.
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