Convene and GovernWith have joined forces to provide a cutting-edge governance solution, Convene Assure. We’re bringing together award-winning board management, compliance and contemporary governance review capabilities, and offering you a unified platform for all of your board governance needs.

We here at Convene are dedicated to bringing you the best possible assistance in your governance practices. Our Board portal is designed to ensure that before, during and after your Board meetings, your workflow is streamlined and seamless.

However, Convene is more than just a Board portal. With our partnership with GovernWith we are bringing you the next step in Board technology. 

Convene Assure specialises in Contemporary Governance Review & Development programs, tailored to meet the UK Housing Governance and regulatory obligations. Our platform supports Boards, Directors, Executives and Subcommittees in achieving efficient, compliant contemporary governance.

Convene Assure is a dedicated module within the Convene GRC Suite, designed to support board development, performance evaluation, and strategic succession planning. Convene Assure is built upon the platform formerly known as Boardroom Plus, which we acquired and rebranded to further strengthen our governance offering.

The Boardroom Plus program includes the following foundation products for annual Governance Review and Development:

Skills Matrix and Capability Mapping

Convene Assure includes a comprehensive Skills Matrix tool that enables boards to assess both individual and collective competencies in terms of skills, experience, and qualifications. Using a structured 1–6 point scale, it produces a capability map that highlights areas for development and helps boards align composition with strategic goals.

Board, Committee, and Director Evaluations

The platform supports evaluations at board, committee, and individual director level. The same 1–6 scale is used to analyse competencies and behaviours, providing a clear view of strengths and areas for improvement. Evaluation templates are mapped to sector-specific Codes of Governance—such as those for housing, charities, and listed companies—and can be fully customised to suit organisational context and board maturity.

Insights and Action Planning

Data from the Skills Matrix and evaluations is compiled into clear dashboards and structured action plans, enabling boards to:

  • Ensure strategic alignment, matching board composition with the organisation’s evolving goals and challenges.
  • Improve board effectiveness by identifying areas for governance improvement and aligning roles and responsibilities.
  • Support succession planning, by tracking capability gaps and enabling proactive recruitment or development strategies.

Succession Planning Capabilities

Convene Assure helps boards to build proactive succession plans by continuously monitoring skills data and identifying potential leadership gaps. This allows boards to plan ahead with confidence and ensure long-term continuity in governance.

Community Housing, a UK Social Housing Provider and one of Worcestershire’s largest providers of social housing, recently underwent a proof of concept for Boardroom Plus – Convene x GovernWith’s new automated Board Governance Review and Director Skills Matrix, tailored to the regulatory and contemporary needs of the UK Housing sector.

With a forward-thinking governance team and a deep commitment to contemporary standards, Community Housing sought a more insightful, streamlined and actionable alternative to their existing manual, excel-heavy board review process.

It’s early days still, but immediate outcomes for Community Housing following the use of Boardroom Plus are compelling.

“I’d estimate the time invested in Boardroom Plus was about 20% of what our usual manual governance review process requires. Now we can use that freed up time to focus on actioning our governance review rather than just undertaking the review process.” 

“This process gave us a truer picture… and helped move subjective scoring to a more objective approach.”

“There’s a real personal benefit as well as an organisational benefit for directors. It’s not just admin, it informs board culture, development and even recruitment.”

– Justin Bryant, Company Secretary, Community Housing

For Community Housing, the pilot process confirmed that GovernWith x Convene’s Boardroom Plus Governance Review and Skills Matrix isn’t just a tech upgrade, it’s a governance game-changer. It offers meaningful governance insights supported by data, improved administration efficiency and enables a shift from compliance-driven box-ticking to modern, capability-led development.

At a recent talk at Housing Governance 2025, Justin Bryant discussed Convene Assure and Boardroom Plus with Fi Mercer and Arturo Dell. Summing up the experience, he said “it helps us put our effort into the right priorities.” 

By reducing time spent on manual processing, surfacing new layers of insight and laying the foundation for future-ready governance, Boardroom Plus has proven itself a powerful ally for contemporary housing boards.

To learn more about Convene Assure and Boardroom Plus, you can book a demo and join our early adopters today.