In recent years, search firms have been flooded by requests for director candidates with cybersecurity backgrounds as boards seek to leverage this expertise when responding to rising cyber risks. …Over the past five years, companies in both the Russell 3000 and S&P 500 have seen the number of directors boasting cybersecurity expertise climb by the… Continue reading Cyber Expertise Needs Vetting as Boards Seek Crucial Skill
Tag: Board of Directors
Boards Continue Size Expansions to Bring in New Directors
Roughly a dozen S&P 500 companies expanded the size of their boards during the past three months in order to recruit new directors at companies including Danaher, General Mills, Medtronic and Discover Financial Services. The data comes from public company intelligence provider MyLogIQ. The expansion continues a trend of the past few years in which… Continue reading Boards Continue Size Expansions to Bring in New Directors
Board Leaders See Pay Hikes
Directors are approving pay raises for board leaders as investor scrutiny intensifies and as competition for new board members and leadership talent grows fiercer. Dozens of Russell 1000 companies opted to increase premiums paid to non-executive board chairs and lead directors in the past year, some even doubling retainers, according to pay data from public… Continue reading Board Leaders See Pay Hikes
Precision Raises for Directors as Comp Freeze Thaws
Boards have begun making small adjustments to director compensation programs, bringing cash and equity retainers up to market medians and making precision increases to committee and board leadership retainers after two years of leaving pay untouched. A look at 2022 proxy statements filed so far among Russell 1000 companies using public company intelligence provider MyLogIQ… Continue reading Precision Raises for Directors as Comp Freeze Thaws
What’s Up, Doc? The Number of M.D.s on Boards
The number of physicians on boards shot up in 2020. Some recruiters say this is part of a trend that has been on the rise for the past decade or longer, while others link the jump to the pandemic.
In 2020, there were 578 medical doctors on Russell 3000 boards, up from 484 in 2019 and 438 the year prior, according to data from public company intelligence provider MyLogIQ. Some of those individuals serve on multiple boards, bringing the total number of board positions filled by doctors to 502, 596 and 711 for the past three years, respectively.
“We have seen explosive growth in the number of health care sector companies in the Russell 3000 Index, so it makes sense that we are seeing more director positions occupied by medical doctors,” says Ganesh Rajappan, CEO and founder of MyLogIQ. “It’s too early to determine if Covid is driving a new wave of physician directors. We will have to wait for next year’s reported data to see if there is an uptick.”
Boards Look to Directors With Reputational Risk Experience
As companies seek to gird their reputations, boards are looking for new directors with deep corporate affairs backgrounds to help them oversee and safeguard an intangible asset that can swiftly erode.
A short list of corporate affairs experts who have ascended to boardrooms in recent years includes Dee Dee Myers, the former Clinton administration White House press secretary who went to Wynn Resorts; AnnaMaria DeSalva, the chairman and CEO of public relations firm Hill+Knowlton Strategies, who serves on the board of XPO Logistics; and Beatriz Perez, Coca-Cola’s chief communications and chief sustainability officer, who joined the board of W.W. Grainger. In fact, at least a dozen S&P 500 companies and New York Stock Exchange-traded companies show director biographies with current or retired corporate affairs experience. That’s according to public company intelligence provider MyLogIQ and SEC filings.
What Changing Director Demographics Tell Us about Board Work
The forces that are shaping business are changing as much as they are intensifying, and with that comes evolving needs for board oversight. Given the extreme turbulence of 2020, NACD partnered with Main Data Group to empirically describe the size, shape, and structure of Russell 3000 boards. MyLogIQ also provided additional data to supplement our work. The research, which is collected in the forthcoming NACD publication Inside the Public-Company Boardroom, looks at the dimensions of market capitalization and three-plus year market trends to assess how boards are changing. Board turnover in particular illuminates shifts in board demographics, in terms of gender diversity, skill sets, and overall size.
Boards and Committees Are Getting Larger
According to Main Data Group, the average board size has grown steadily between 2017 and 2020. In 2017, the average board size consisted of 9.88 members, and today that figure stands at 10.13; in the Russell 3000, this means the addition of more than 1,000 board seats. Small- and mid-cap companies have largely driven this trend, whereas large- and mega-cap companies have seen, on average, a slight decrease in board size: 12.29 members down to 12.12.
Uptick in CEOs Retiring to Exec Chair
In the past decade, the number of outgoing CEOs who’ve stepped into executive chair roles has quietly tripled from single digits to two dozen or more. So far this year, there have been 13 such moves, with a few more companies still to file corporate proxies. In 2020, the list includes chair appointments at blue… Continue reading Uptick in CEOs Retiring to Exec Chair