Dr Karl George MBE

Dr Karl George MBE is one of the UK's most established governance practitioners, bringing more than 25 years' combined experience in accountancy, business and strategic development to his work with boards and senior leaders across the private, public and voluntary sectors.

He is the creator of the tgf Governance Code, built on a three-part methodology of Resources, Competency and Execution, comprising twelve principles of good governance. The underlying framework and quality mark were endorsed by the late Sir Adrian Cadbury, chair of the committee behind the landmark 1992 Cadbury Report, and have since been applied in hundreds of governance assessments across sectors and jurisdictions. He authored a 2019 governance publication for the Chartered Governance Institute.

Karl founded the governance forum (tgf) and is Partner and Head of Governance at RSM UK, within the firm's ESG advisory practice. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute, a qualified accountant, a founder member of the Association of Corporate Governance Practitioners, and was among the founders of the Institute of Directors' Young Directors Forum.

He pioneered the award-winning Effective Board Member Programmes, delivered internationally, and authored The Effective Board Member (2017) as well as co-authoring Corporate Governance 3.0: An International Perspective on Modern Governance. In 2020 he created the RACE Equality Code, built on Reporting, Action, Composition and Education, which draws together more than 200 recommendations to advance race equality in the boardroom, adopted by organisations including Birmingham City Council, the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Trident Group.

Karl was appointed MBE in the 2004 Birthday Honours for services to young people in the West Midlands, recognising his work as Founding President of 100 Black Men of Birmingham and Founding Chair of the African Caribbean Business Forum. He holds an honorary doctorate, is a visiting professor at Birmingham City University, a TEDx speaker, and a board member of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.