About the Conference

The Saudi Corporate Governance Conference is the flagship annual event of the Alfaisal University Corporate Governance Center (CGC), College of Business. Now in its fifth edition, the conference has become a leading regional and international forum where academics, regulators, board members, executives, and professionals meet to advance both the theory and practice of corporate governance.

In today's business environment, governance extends far beyond compliance and financial performance. Boards and institutions are expected to lead transformation, anticipate disruption, steer through crises, manage risk, and create durable value for shareholders, stakeholders, and society. The 5th Conference, themed "Visionary Governance for Transformation," explores how governance can serve as a driver of positive change when conditions are most uncertain.

Aligned with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, the conference frames visionary governance as an engine of transformation. The program will bring together research, policy dialogue, practical case studies, and board-level perspectives, while also featuring the release of the Alfaisal CGC annual governance assessment of Saudi listed companies and a special ceremony recognizing governance excellence and improvement.


Theme: Visionary Governance for Transformation

Transformation at the scale of Vision 2030 cannot be delivered by strategy alone. It requires governance that is visionary - anticipatory, principled, adaptive, and capable of steering organizations through profound and often disruptive change. This year's conference reframes the boardroom's purpose from narrow oversight and compliance toward foresight, resilience, ethical leadership, and strategic decision-making under uncertainty.

Governance in a Time of Crisis

A defining emphasis of this edition is governance during crises. Pandemics, regional wars and armed conflict, energy and commodity shocks, financial volatility, cyberattacks, supply-chain instability, and rapid technological displacement have shown that crises are not rare exceptions but recurring features of the operating environment. The quality of governance is most visible - and most decisive - when conditions are most adverse.

The conference examines how visionary governance builds the resilience, ethical clarity, and decisiveness needed for institutions to protect stakeholders, sustain value, and emerge stronger from disruption.

Conference Objectives

  1. The 5th edition delivers on seven measurable strategic objectives across academic rigor, regulatory dialogue, and practical impact.
  2. Position governance as a strategic driver of positive transformation, not merely a compliance function, in the context of Vision 2030 and global disruption.
  3. Examine how boards, regulators, and institutions govern effectively during crises, including geopolitical, technological, economic, environmental, and operational shocks.
  4. Advance rigorous and practical knowledge on AI-driven transformation, geopolitical and conflict-related risk, enterprise risk management, and resilience.
  5. Bridge academia and practice by combining scholarly research, practitioner insights, regulatory perspectives, and mixed panels.
  6. Release the Alfaisal CGC annual governance assessment of Tadawul-listed companies and recognize leaders through the CG Excellence and CG Enhancement Awards.
  7. Provide a credible publication pathway through a Special Issue of the Journal of Institutional Economics, published by Cambridge University Press.
  8. Broaden international participation by accepting online presentations for the first time.