Insights
Top Trends for Today's Boards of Directors
Former AESC Chair and Founder and Chairman of AESC member executive search firm Diversified Search, Judith M. von Seldeneck, was recently featured in Directors and Boards magazine where she discussed board recruitment trends with Equilar CEO David Chun. The two highlight the following as critical issues driving the composition of boards today:
- Diversity (Generational, Gender and Ethnic)
- Technology and Digital Expertise
- Mapping Board Expectations with Available Talent Pools
In Russell Reynolds recent report Global and Regional Trends in Corporate Governance for 2017, the AESC member firm interviewed numerous investors, pension fund managers, public company directors and other governance professionals about the trends and challenges that public company boards will face in 2017. These include:
- Increasing expectations around the oversight role of the board
- Continued focus on board refreshment and composition, with particular attention being paid to directors’ skill profiles, the currency of directors’ knowledge, director overboarding, diversity, and robust mechanisms for board refreshment
- Greater scrutiny of company plans for sustained value creation
- Greater focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues
AESC member Spencer Stuart's U.S. Board Index 2016 reveals:
- A decline in the number of new independent directors elected to S&P 500 boards during the 2016 proxy year
- Women account for 32% of new independent directors
- Only 43% of S&P 500 CEOs serve on one or more outside corporate boards in addition to their own board
