CIM Distinguished Lecturers
Siri Genik has spent over 25 years working on major capital projects around the world. She has worked in the natural resource and infrastructure spaces. During the course of her career, she has developed particular expertise in strategic planning, risk management, stakeholder engagement and governance, with a strong focus on corporate social responsibility, sustainability and agreement negotiation. She has worked with the board room, leadership as well as project delivery teams.
Genik currently runs BRIDGE©, providing non-quantitative strategy services, advising her clients on risk management interfacing with commercial and sustainability issues. She crafts solutions with a mediation approach when working with stakeholders, whether indigenous and local communities, industry, labour, civil society and governments. An important part of her expertise covers the social and community impacts of projects, negotiating agreements and building balance between global strategy and local needs and capacity.
She is a member of the Bar of Québec as well as a qualified mediator. She is perfectly fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Genik was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and grew up in South America, Africa, France, Spain and the UK. In the course of her career she has worked in Egypt, Russia, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Panama, Argentina, Australia, Mongolia as well as Canada, Alaska and the Arctic. She and her family reside in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Distinguished Lecturer 2018-19
Lecture Abstract
Why sustainability and stakeholder management makes good business sense for the mining business … and your shareholders too
Mining is changing at breakneck speed….And while the usual concerns around the technical and financial requirements are still very much alive, a large number of “other” concerns now occupy the industry’s collective mind, be they coined as “CSR”, ”ESG” or more generically as “non-quantitative” issues. Locations are increasingly more remote, assets more complex, and everybody is pinning their hopes on innovation and technology. Yet somehow, regardless of the size of the operation, there always seems to be a minefield of challenges between the boardroom & the leadership team on the one hand and the delivery of the project and the teams on the ground on the other hand. Taking a few steps back and “zooming out” to understand the landscape in which the business is operating is a core element to understanding where the hurdles may lie and who controls them. Whether it is the environment, water management, community or indigenous concerns, each stakeholder wants to be at the table. “Zooming back in” to define the execution strategy and the operations model. From the top down to the bottom up, within the organisation and externally, this lecture will address different strategies that will help build methods to integrate a sustainable approach throughout the business, all of its functions and all of its disciplines. The focus will be on how the business can successfully deliver value to the shareholders and ensure sustainable results for the stakeholders, until well beyond the mine closure and remediation. The target: deliver an integrated business model, based on trust and transparency, internally and externally, with a best-in-class reputation.
