About Us

About W. William Woods, LL.B, ICD.D

 

My name is W. William Woods. I am a professional, independent non-executive director based in Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands.

I currently work with Hawksford. Through Hawksford, I serve as an independent director on the boards of a number of offshore hedge funds, private fund general partners, investment managers and other entities based in Bermuda, the BVI, Canada, Cayman, the Channel Islands, and/or Curacao.

I co-founded and was the president and CEO of Independent Review Inc. (IRI) for 15 years until I sold that company in 2019. IRI specialized in setting up and running Independent Review Committees (IRCs) for public investment funds in Canada. I am a member of a number of IRCs.

In November 2003 I founded, and I am currently the president and CEO of, WWWoods & Co. I am also a co-owner of 2D3WS IdeaLab (Canada)an e-commerce incubator.

Educated in the United Kingdom, where I obtained an LL.B. from the University of Manchester, I qualified as a solicitor (admitted in England, Wales, and Hong Kong) and have been admitted as a barrister and an attorney in Bermuda. I obtained the Institute of Corporate Directors’  Diploma (ICD.D.) in June 2017.

 

The Good Governance Guru

William Woods
 

About WWWOODS & Co.

 

WWWoods & Co. provides independent director services and specialist consulting expertise in the financial services, capital markets, blockchain, and e-commerce spaces.

Please let us know if we can help you with any of the following services.

Specialist Corporate Governance Services:

  • Independent directorships
  • Conducting independent board assessments and evaluations
  • Helping identify and evaluate suitable independent directors
  • Preparing corporate governance codes of best practice
  • Preparing terms of reference and mandates for directors and/or board committees.

Specialist Services for Securities Regulators/Stock Exchanges:

  • Drafting Listing Rules
  • Independent review of regulatory regime
  • Formulating and drafting regulations and codes
  • Drafting internal policy and public consultation documents
  • Conducting market research
  • Making keynote Speeches, training or other presentations, etc.

Specialist Services for Hedge Funds:

  • Independent directorships
  • Design and launch of new funds (especially offshore funds)
  • Conducting due diligence on hedge funds
  • Evaluation and selection of service providers (e.g., fund administrators, lawyers, auditors).

E-Commerce And Crypto Credentials

 

WWWoods & Co. and I have considerable experience in the blockchain and e-commerce spaces.
  • I am a director of several companies/funds that are trading crypto and/or investing in companies that are exploiting the power of blockchain technologies in various exciting ways.
  • I am the co-owner of an incubator called 2D3WS Idealab (Canada) Ltd. The leading product is HealaHeelTM.
  • I was the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at a business incubator in Bermuda, where one investment was an offshore digital certificate authority called QuoVadis that pioneered the use of cryptography and digital certificates.
  • I have advised a Canadian Crown corporation on electronic invoicing and bill payment.
  • I have designed and operated an online, electronic board extranet to securely store corporate documents.
  • I was an integral part of Bermuda’s e-commerce initiative and, as chairman of the BIBA Legislative Initiatives sub-committee, assisted in the preparation of the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 and Code of Conduct for Bermuda. I was a member of the E-commerce Advisory Board of the Bermuda Government.
  • I am an expert on B2B exchanges, co-author of the bestselling book B2B Exchanges: The Killer Application in the Business-to-Business Internet Revolution (which sold more that 50,000 hardback copies and has been translated into four foreign languages) and sole author of B2B Exchanges 2.0: Not all e-markets are dot-bombs.  
  • I have experience in developing the legislative framework required to support e-commerce.  
  • I have been the CEO of the world’s first fully electronic, offshore stock exchange, which has a major on-line presence at www.bsx.com (and which is now owned by MIAX).  
  • I was the managing director and founder of ISI Seminars & Publications, an independent financial publisher and events organizer.

Speaking Engagements

 

I am an experienced public speaker and governance presenter and can be hired for speaking engagements.

2001—Present

I ran regular workshops on conflicts-of-interest matters for Independent Review Committee members at IRC continuing education seminars and chaired Investor Meet Manager events at the Hedge Fund Hotel in Canada.

In September 2004, I sat on a panel that discussed the governance of mutual funds as part of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada's Annual Conference. In December 2004, I made a presentation entitled "Building an Effective Governance Program for Hedge Funds" at the World Hedge Funds Summit held in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

I was the keynote speaker at Pantellos's Executive Supply Chain Conference in February 2003 and at RightWork's Velocity 2000, B2B Conference.

1995—December 2000

As the CEO of the Bermuda Stock Exchange, I was an ambassador for Bermuda and represented its international business sector on overseas promotional tours, with speaking engagements, and to the press. I was regularly quoted in leading publications, including The Financial Times, regarding new developments in international business in Bermuda. I also presented at numerous public seminars (e.g., IIR, IBC, and other conferences).

I proposed a toast and spoke at the Bermuda Society annual dinner in 2000 (black tie event with over 150 attendees).

1990—5

As a consultant for the International Securities Consultancy, I have been involved in numerous capital markets projects where I was advising and working with the governments of various countries—usually at the Minister of Finance level. For instance, I presented to Manmohan Singh (then the MOF and later the prime minister of India) on why the government should back the National Stock Exchange of India. 

1986—90

I made several appearances on Asian Business News and BBC World Service Asia News in interviews on the development and regulation of securities markets in Asia and was regularly quoted in the South China Morning Post and Asian Wall Street Journal on securities market issues.

I presented many tailor-made, in-house seminars on the listing rules and subsequent changes for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong. I also presented at numerous public seminars (e.g., IIR, IBC, and other conferences).

1985

As president of the Trainee Solicitors in Birmingham, U.K., I organized and spoke at the black tie annual dinner in front of over 600 lawyers in response to a toast by Lord Donaldson, Master of the Rolls.