This newly published annual Board Monitor from Heidrick & Struggles: "Board Diversity at an Impasse?" identifies these noteworthy findings regarding Fortune 500 new director attributes in 2016:
- Companies filled 421 vacant or newly created board seats with independent directors—the highest number of such appointments since tracking the data began 8 years ago. However, the total number of board seats shrank slightly from 4,698 in 2015 to 4,609 in 2016.
- Board turnover rate increased to 9% in 2016 from 8.5% in 2015 and 6.8% in 2014.
- Female appointments declined by 2% from 29.8% in 2015 to 27.8% in 2016 - ending a 7-year run of annual increases.
- Current and former CEOs & CFOs together represented almost 66% of new director appointments - down from an 8-year high of 73% in 2015.
- Almost 75% of new directors had prior board experience.
- Almost 60% of Hispanic directors were appointed to Consumer sector boards; almost 41% of Asian and Asian-American directors were appointed to Tech boards; and about 33% of African-American directors were appointed to Industrial sector boards.
See also this Crain's article, this Bloomberg Brief ("Women Lose Ground on New Board Seats for First Time in 8 Years"), our prior Society Alert report: "Fortune 100: New Director Class Reveals Broadening Candidate Pool," and numerous additional resources on our Board Succession/Refreshment, Board Composition, Board Diversity, and Board Practices topical pages.