AI Governance for Boards and Executive Teams

Clarity in
AI governance.

Lucentis Advisory advises Boards and Executive Leadership on AI governance at a moment when that expertise is scarce and demand is accelerating. Principal-led. Evidence-based. Built for mid-size Australian organisations.

Get in touch Our services

The challenge

Most Boards are being asked
to govern AI, without the
structures to do it.

01

Regulatory pressure

The Australian Government's AI6 framework, mandatory guardrails and ASIC/APRA obligations are creating urgency boards cannot ignore.

02

Visibility gap

AI is spreading across organisations faster than Boards can see it. Most Directors cannot describe what AI systems their organisation is running.

03

Directors' obligations

Directors’ duties under the Corporations Act extend to how material risks, including AI, are identified and managed. Understanding your organisation’s AI exposure is part of meeting that obligation.

Who we are

An AI-native governance consultancy, built from the ground up on AI.

Lucentis Advisory advises Boards and Executive Leadership on AI governance at a moment when that expertise is scarce and demand is accelerating. Where a conventional consultancy deploys expansive teams, Lucentis Advisory delivers the same depth through a principal-led model supported by purpose-built AI agents, at a price point accessible to mid-size Boards.

Bernadette Harkin GAICD

Founder & Principal

Board and executive career spanning ASX-listed companies and global professional services across Europe, North America, Asia and ANZ. Non-Executive Director, Committee Chair and COO. She has sat at the table where AI decisions land.

Our services

A natural consulting pathway: diagnostic-led, nothing assumed.

Every engagement begins with understanding. No governance structure is recommended, no policy built, until we know what is actually in place, and what is not.

SERVICE 01

AI Governance for Boards

Evidence-based diagnostic across AI exposure, Board readiness and regulatory awareness. Delivers a governance pathway in 1–2 weeks.

SERVICE 02

Governance Structure Design

Design and build the right governance structure: expand an existing committee or establish a dedicated AI sub-committee.

SERVICE 03

AI Policy Framework

Internal AI use policy mapped to AI6, Privacy Act, Australia's 8 Ethics Principles and your sector obligations.

SERVICE 04

AI Frameworks for Executive Teams

AI6 gap assessment, LUCENTIS Measurement Model facilitation and a bespoke AI screening template built for your organisation.

SERVICE 05

Quarterly Governance Review

Ongoing review of committee function, regulatory developments and emerging challenges. Written quarterly report to the Board.

How we work

Principal-led quality.
Team-level depth.
Accessible price.

1

Every engagement is principal-led

Bernadette Harkin owns every client relationship, conducts all interviews, applies professional judgement to every finding, and signs off every deliverable before it reaches the client.

2

Supported by purpose-built AI agents

Five AI agents, one per service, handle document analysis, survey processing, regulatory mapping and first-draft production. Each has a named identity, a defined remit and a clear relationship to the principal's judgement.

3

Transparent by design

Agent use is disclosed to every client as part of Lucentis Advisory's own responsible AI practice, the same standard we recommend our clients adopt. No agent output reaches a client without principal review.

Why now

The window to govern
proactively is narrowing.

AI6 Framework, October 2025

The Australian Government's Guidance for AI Adoption sets out six essential practices. Increasingly referenced by regulators and in government procurement requirements.

National AI Plan, December 2025

Government roadmap signalling mandatory guardrails, automated decision-making transparency obligations.

Directors' duties

Directors’ duties under the Corporations Act extend to material technology risks. As AI becomes central to business operations, failure to govern it is increasingly a governance matter, not just an operational one.

First-mover dividend

Organisations that build governance now, before regulation requires it, demonstrate to customers, employees and investors that they are serious about AI. That trust compounds.

About

Bernadette Harkin GAICD

Bernadette Harkin

Bernadette Harkin is the Founder and Principal of Lucentis Advisory. She brings board-level experience and a career leading large-scale technology services businesses to a practice that is built from the ground up on AI.

Her work sits at the intersection of AI governance, frontier technology and executive leadership. She advises boards and executive teams who are making AI adoption decisions today, often without the governance structures those decisions require. The practice is principal-led by design: every engagement is led and signed off by Bernadette throughout.

She writes and speaks about the gap between what regulators and researchers assume organisations are doing about AI, and what most organisations are actually doing.

Founder and Principal, Lucentis Advisory, AI governance consultancy, Sydney

Non-Executive Director, Archer Materials, quantum technology, ASX listed

GAICD: Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors

Former COO and senior leader, large IT services organisations

Articles

Thinking worth reading.

Longer form writing on AI governance, frontier technology and leadership. New pieces added as they are ready.

August 2026
AI Governance

As a board member: are you being briefed about AI or governing AI?

Successful AI adoption requires five critical elements to be in place: data, workforce, ways of working, culture and governance. This paper sets out those foundations and then poses five questions every director should be able to ask, evaluate and, if necessary, push back on. The gap between being briefed and actually governing is where liability lives.

Read more →
July 2026
Leadership

Mind the Gap: Why AI Accountability Keeps Landing on the Wrong Desk

The Board asks the CEO. The CEO appoints the CFO. The CFO delegates to Marketing. Three letters, 48 hours, and an organisation that has technically assigned AI accountability without building a single governance structure to support it. This piece traces the relay race and asks why it keeps happening, and what it would take to break the pattern.

Read more →
July 2026
AI Governance

Choosing an AI Governance Framework Shouldn't Feel Like Picking a Side

The NAIC AI6 guidance. OECD principles. APRA's technology risk lens. Industry body recommendations. Each one credible, none designed for your organisation. The question boards are asking is not whether to govern AI: that conversation is over. The question is which framework to use, and why the answer is not as simple as downloading the most recent one.

Read more →

The right place to start
is understanding where
you stand.

A 30-minute conversation, no obligation. We'll understand your current situation and whether a diagnostic is the right first step.

bernadette@lucentisadvisory.com.au LinkedIn

ABN 92 108 409 423

The information on this website is general in nature and does not constitute legal, regulatory or financial advice. Lucentis Advisory is a governance consultancy, not a law firm. Nothing on this site should be relied upon as legal advice. You should obtain independent legal or professional advice in relation to your specific circumstances before making any decisions. Lucentis Advisory makes no representation that the information on this site is current, complete or accurate.