Among the many share-worthy takeaways from Spencer Stuart’s iconic, newly released annual S&P 500 Board Index are these:
Board refreshment practices
- Mandatory retirement—66% of boards (down from 73% in 2015) have a mandatory retirement age policy, most commonly age 75.
- Term—Just 10% of boards (47 companies) have term limits. When they exist, term limits are most commonly set at 15 years or more (66%).
- Tenure—The average tenure of an independent director is 7.8 years, on par with 2024 but down from 8.5 years in 2015.
- Mandatory resignations—88% of boards require directors to offer their resignation upon a change in employment status or job responsibilities. Acceptance of the resignation is typically subject to the discretion of the board chair or nominating committee chair.
Standing committees
Always a topic of keen interest, here is the breakdown on board committee structures in 2025 as compared to 2024 and five and 10 years ago:
Notably, 71% of boards have more than the three key standing committees (audit, compensation, and nominating/governance), with an average of 4.1 standing committees. Additional standing committees vary by sector, as detailed on page 55 of the report.
Board evaluation practices
Among boards reporting some form of evaluation (99%):
- Scope—47% reported evaluating the full board, board committees, and individual directors; 47% reported evaluating the full board and committees; 4% reported evaluating the full board only; and 1% reported evaluating the full board and directors. Nearly half (48%) disclosed having conducted an individual director evaluation.
- Method—27% of boards disclosed engagement of a third-party facilitator.
Skills matrix—Up from 38% in 2020 and 73% last year, 80% of companies included a director skills matrix in their most recent proxy statements.
In addition to the robust comparative data (including director compensation) by industry included at the end of the report, see Spencer Stuart’s webpage, which provides access to highlights, industry sector comparisons, and benchmarking results by topic.