Governance
Committed to acting ethically, committed to quality
Environment
ICON is committed to conducting our business in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Learn moreEnvironment, Social & Governance
Translating intent to impact.
Learn more and download 2022 ESG reportGovernance: Committed to doing the right thing
The ICON Board’s Corporate Governance Guidelines, including ICON’s Constitution, the Committee Charters, the Lead Independent Director Policy and the Non-Executive Director Policy for Service, provide the framework for effective company governance. They address matters such as the roles and responsibilities of the Board and management, the Board’s leadership structure, lead independent director duties, director independence, Board membership criteria, Board committees and Board and management evaluation.
Highlights of our governance structure include:
- An experienced and independent chair with well-defined responsibilities who supports the Board’s oversight.
- Three statutory committees: the Audit Committee, the Compensation and Organisation Committee and the Nominating, Sustainability and Governance (NSG) Committee. The latter has primary oversight responsibility for ESG. Each committee is charged with specific responsibilities and has a charter that is reviewed periodically.
- These committees provide oversight for the management of key risks, including ESG-related risks.
- Leaders from diverse backgrounds with deep experience and expertise across the industry and specific topic areas.
Board of Directors and leadership team
ICON’s Board of Directors is made up of experts in their respective fields who oversee strategy and management activity. The Board comprises 8 directors, 7 of which are independent, and 3 women and 5 men. Meet our Board of Directors here.
Furthermore, our leadership team includes executives recognised as leading practitioners in their fields. The team brings a variety of perspectives and a wealth of experience to their roles – learn more about their backgrounds here.
ESG governance and oversight
ICON’s ESG strategy and initiatives are led by our CAO & General Counsel. The Nominating, Sustainability and Governance Committee is responsible for the company’s strategies, activities and risks with respect to ESG. ICON established its ESG Committee in 2019 to provide operational information and oversight for ESG related activities across the company. The ESG Committee initiates, reviews and communicates updates and plans on ESG-related activity and initiatives to ensure consistency, promote collaboration, enhance monitoring, reveal areas for development and facilitate reporting to the Board.
How ESG governance is linked to corporate governance:
Ethics and compliance
ICON’s commitment to ethics and integrity is embedded in our company values. We act with integrity and integrate ethical principles into our business practices and culture. ICON’s Global Code of Ethical Conduct establishes our core principles and standards for honest, fair, and ethical behaviour.
Our Ethics and Compliance program builds on the principles established in the Global Code of Ethical Conduct to define and drive business conduct consistent with company values and the laws, rules and regulations that apply to our business. The program is designed to protect the interests of the company and its shareholders by preventing, detecting, investigating and responding to potential misconduct and violations. The program supports all functional areas globally and is dedicated to implementing standardised global policies, procedures, training, guidance, communications, monitoring, investigations and issues management, in addition to assessing compliance-related risk and mitigations and reporting.
Key priorities of the Ethics and Compliance program include:
- Establishing standards of conduct in accessible company policies and procedures
- Raising awareness through training and internal and external communications
- Ensuring there are avenues to ask questions or raise concerns, including through our confidential, externally hosted Ethics Line, which is available 24/7
- Conducting or monitoring investigations of reported non-compliance in the risk areas under its oversight
- Ongoing compliance risk auditing and monitoring with the assistance of AI technology.
Sustainable procurement
ICON uses suppliers in numerous areas of our business, including central laboratory suppliers, shipping companies, electronic data capture providers, healthcare and benefit providers and information technology solutions. We are committed to sourcing from suppliers whose values align with our own, who share our commitment to diversity and inclusion and who are socially and environmentally responsible.
All ICON suppliers must abide by our Global Supplier Code of Conduct, which incorporates the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI) principles for Responsible Supply Chain Management and articulates our standards and expectations regarding:
- Ethics and compliance
- Labour and human rights
- Health and safety
- Environmental stewardship
Our commitment to quality
Quality is the cornerstone of our success as a leading CRO and is vital to our mission of bringing better medications to patients worldwide. ICON is committed to maintaining, supporting, checking and improving our quality systems to exceed the standards demanded by our customers, patients and regulatory authorities.
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