we don't deserve a bad image

I agree with most of your editorial on governance ("Conduct unbecoming", 10 October, page 5).

Comments like those of Richard Kemp (10 October, page 17) should be taken seriously as they are the perception, but the reality is often different.

Keynote has recently openly recruited six very experienced people to its three boards. All come with excellent private and commercial sector skills and none of them were known to me before their appointments. They have been appointed to challenge and stretch the executive, which is one of the roles of non-executive board members. To suggest otherwise is an insult to their commitment and integrity.

We believe the debate on "public vs private" is a sterile one that leads nowhere. We understand that we receive public funding but believe we should operate as a commercial business, harnessing the best of all sectors and not blindly following a traditional public sector approach.

Keynote was one of the first to sign up to the In Business for Neighbourhoods rebranding scheme as we have followed this path for many years: an example of this is our neighbourhood management project in Wolverhampton, which recently held an open planning event that attracted more than 2000 local people. In my view, this is true local accountability.

If Richard Kemp is setting us a challenge, we are more than happy to take it up.