Mindful Governance has successfully convened the maiden edition of The Company Secretaries' Summit, a full-day gathering that brought together company secretaries, legal counsel, board directors and senior governance professionals from across Ghana's public, private and state-owned sectors.
Held on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra under the theme 'Governance as Value Creation,' the summit was designed to elevate the standing of a profession that sits at the very centre of corporate decision-making, yet has long operated without a dedicated national platform of its own.
"The company secretary sits between the board, management and stakeholders, and sets the conditions in which the most consequential decisions get made, from what reaches the agenda to when it arrives there. That is the level at which these professionals operate, and the summit was built to match it," said Catherine Engmann, Founder and Managing Director of Mindful Governance.
The morning plenary opened with remarks from the Registrar of Companies, Maame Samma Peprah, Esq., who stated that while artificial intelligence can strengthen compliance monitoring, board administration and regulatory analysis, it cannot replace the professional judgement, ethical leadership and independence that define the company secretary's role. "As organisations adopt new tools such as artificial intelligence, strong governance frameworks will be critical to ensuring innovation is responsible and value-creating," she said.
The keynote address was delivered by Karl George, MBE, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Governance AI, who led delegates through a working session on artificial intelligence and its implications for the boardroom. He introduced the 'three A's' of AI adoption—automation, augmentation and agency—and issued a pointed warning on 'shadow AI,' the use of unapproved AI tools by employees on personal devices, which he described as one of the most urgent and least understood risks facing organisations today.
For her part, Charlotte Kesson-Smith Osei, Esq., Chief Executive Officer of Cyrus Law, challenged the long-held view of governance as a compliance burden. "The greatest value of governance lies in creating environments where the right questions are asked, difficult conversations are encouraged and organisations are able to make decisions that stand the test of time," she said.
The summit climaxed with the recognition of exemplary corporate governance leadership across three categories. Six professionals were honoured:
Company Secretary of the Year (Private Sector): Helen Amponsah Asare of KGL Group of Companies Ltd and Paulina Akosua Danso, Esq., of The Royal Senchi.
Rising Star (Emerging Professional): Gertrude Assan, Esq., of Mainstream Reinsurance Limited Company and Bernice Yaa Sika Afful of First Atlantic Asset Management.
Board Secretary of the Year (SOE/Public Sector): Trudy Lamptey of Labadi Beach Hotel and Susan Gbemu of Ghana National Gas Limited Company.
"Every professional recognised tonight has demonstrated that governance done well is not a constraint on performance but a driver of it," Mrs Engmann noted.
Mindful Governance has confirmed that The Company Secretaries' Summit and Awards will return as an annual fixture on Ghana's corporate governance calendar.