Board Leadership with Sylvia Cronin, Chartered Director

Board Leadership with Sylvia Cronin, Chartered Director

From Leadership Discoveries by Dr. Shirley Kavanagh

April 13, 2026 · 32 min · Episode 24

About this episode

Sylvia Cronin shares her insights on board leadership and the differences between board and executive roles.

Sylvia Cronin is a highly experienced Chairperson and Independent Non-Executive Director (INED) with an exceptional leadership career spanning financial services, insurance, governance, and regulation. She also currently holds a number of major board roles, including Chairperson of Mercer Global Investments Europe and AIB Life, and Senior Independent Director of FBD Insurance and Canada Life. Hear her advice for board members of tech companies, how a board role differs from an executive leadership role, how to prepare leaders to lead through crises, whether organizations are maximizing their use of AI, and where we’re at in terms of diversity of thought at the board level. Connect with Shirley at ShirleyKavanagh.com and on LinkedIn, and Sylvia on LinkedIn

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Shirley Kavanagh

Guest: Sylvia Cronin

Topics covered

  • board leadership
  • crisis management
  • diversity in governance
  • AI in organizations
  • executive vs board roles

Keywords

  • board leadership
  • Sylvia Cronin
  • crisis management
  • AI
  • diversity of thought

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mercer Global Investments Europe, AIB Life, FBD Insurance, Canada Life

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