The poster girl for non-executive forgiveness, Elizabeth...

The poster girl for non-executive forgiveness, Elizabeth Nosworthy, was on the boards of Ventracor, Commander Communications, Babcock & Brown and Babcock & Brown Infrastructure yet was still promoted to the chair of Babcock - albeit a role which would not have met with spirited competition from the Australian Club.

The process is simple, the role of the independent or non-executive director is to act in the interests of shareholders. They get paid well for it.