My contribution to a board
I would bring one specific question to a board: can the company rely on what it is reporting, and does it have permission to use data the way it does? In a hospital, a claim, a quality indicator and a revenue figure all depend on records written by busy people for other purposes. In many other businesses the same is true of customer records, sales data or safety reports. I have spent twenty-six years learning where such records go wrong, and the answer is rarely the software. It is usually a form, an incentive or an unclear owner. On an audit committee I would read management papers with that in mind, asking how a figure was made before asking whether it is good. On a risk management committee I would help directors treat data protection as an operating discipline rather than a legal formality, without offering legal opinions that belong to counsel. I would not bring a technology programme or a vendor preference. My statistical training is relevant to audit work, but I am not a chartered accountant, and I would not present myself as the committee's member with accounting or financial-management expertise. I have not served as a director, and I would expect to learn the board's collective role before speaking strongly outside my field.
My first year on a board
My first months would be spent reading rather than speaking. I would ask the company secretary for two years of committee minutes and action logs, the internal audit plan and any regulatory correspondence the board has already seen. I would then ask to follow one important figure from its point of origin to the board pack: a revenue line, a quality measure or a complaint count, depending on the business. With the chair's agreement, I would visit at least one operating site and spend time with the people who enter the data, not only those who present it. By the second quarter I would expect to contribute on matters close to my experience, such as data protection, information quality and the controls around them. On everything else I would ask questions and listen. Before the year ends I would ask the chair for a candid view of my contribution and adjust my preparation accordingly.
Conflicts and their management
My employer buys medicines, devices, software and laboratory services, and it is paid by insurers and third-party administrators. Any of those relationships could make a seat inappropriate. I would not join the board of a hospital operator in Kerala or Karnataka while I work at Chembakanad Healthcare, and I would treat significant suppliers to Chembakanad with the same caution. Before accepting, I would give the chair a list of my employer's material relationships in the company's sector and ask for it to be checked against the company's own counterparties. I would seek written consent from our chief executive and board. If a conflict arose during a term, I would declare it at once and leave the discussion; if it recurred on matters central to the board's work, I would offer to step down. I would never carry patient data, pricing or vendor terms from one organisation to the other. Because my twenty-four days compete with an executive role, I would hold only one directorship at first.
My independence statement
I hold no shares in listed healthcare companies, and none of my relatives works in one. Before any appointment I would ask the company and its advisers to test my position against section 149(6) of the Companies Act, including any commercial dealings between my employer and the company. I would accept their conclusion rather than argue for a label.
Judgement in practice
01Asking how an improving figure was made
When one of our hospitals reported theatre utilisation ten points better than its peers, the easy response was to ask the others to copy it. The difference came from a definition. I would bring the same habit to board papers. When a key indicator improves sharply, I would ask whether its definition, data source or owner changed during the period, and whether the board was told. That is not distrust of management. A board that praises an artefact of measurement encourages more of it, and loses the ability to recognise a genuine improvement when one arrives. I would raise such questions early in the meeting cycle and in writing where possible, so that management can answer with evidence rather than defend a number in the room. I would also accept that some changes in definition are improvements, which should be explained rather than reversed.
02Stating the price of a principled choice when it is made
Our voluntary approach to national health accounts cost most of a projected incentive. I learnt that a board should see the cost of a principled choice at the time it is made, not discover it later as a shortfall. As a director I would ask management to state what a recommended option gives up and who disagreed, particularly where patient or customer consent is involved. I would also be careful in the other direction. A director can speak comfortably about privacy while leaving management to absorb the cost. If I support a restrictive choice, I should also support management when the expected income does not arrive, and help the board judge the decision by what was known then rather than by its later financial result. That consistency matters more to an executive team than any single question asked in a meeting.
Committee contribution
Chair and member readiness| Capacity | Committees |
|---|
| Ready to join | Audit committee · Risk management committee · Technology or data oversight committee, where the board has formed one |
|---|
Capacity and preferences
- Time available
- 24 days per year
- Current directorships
- 0
- Sectors
- Diagnostics and medical devices outside my employer's supply chain · Health technology · Consumer businesses holding sensitive personal data
- Company type
- Listed mid-sized company or unlisted public company with an established audit committee
- Company stage
- Expanding its use of patient or customer data, or preparing for new data-protection obligations
The seat I am pursuing
I am seeking a first independent directorship at a company where information about people is close to the business itself. A listed mid-sized company would suit me, provided its audit committee already includes a member with accounting expertise, so that my contribution can lie in information quality and data risk. An unlisted public company preparing for a listing would also suit. I am not looking for a seat as a substitute for an executive data role, nor for an advisory title that implies oversight without responsibility. I hold no directorships today and would stay well inside the limits set by the Companies Act and SEBI's listing regulations. Above all, I would want a chair who can explain why the board wants this perspective now, and what it expects from the committee I join.
Board and committee exposure
Presented to the Board or a committee
Chembakanad Healthcare Limited
Audit committee
April 2023–present
Presents a quarterly paper on data quality, clinical coding audits and claims integrity; attends for that item only and is not a director.
Reported to a committee
Chembakanad Healthcare Limited
Risk management committee
July 2019–present
Reports privacy incidents, data-access requests and progress on Digital Personal Data Protection Act preparation twice a year.
Member of a committee
Thanalvazhi Palliative Care Society
Finance and audit committee
June 2021–present
Volunteer member of the committee of a registered charitable society providing home-based palliative care in Ernakulam; reviews accounts and the handling of patient and donor records.
Governance learning and readiness
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Proficiency assessment passed
I registered with the IICA's Independent Directors' Databank in March 2025 and passed its online proficiency self-assessment test in July 2025. I did not qualify for an exemption from the test, so I prepared for it and took it. I keep the registration current as the rules require.
- Passed the IICA online proficiency self-assessment in July 2025 after preparing on company law, securities regulation and board practice.
- Attending audit committee meetings for my own agenda item has shown me how directors test a management paper and what they ask for in writing.
- Studying SEBI's listing obligations for the audit, nomination and remuneration, stakeholders relationship and risk management committees.