According to the recently-released 2016 Board Practices Report, a collaborative board practices benchmarking effort between Deloitte LLP's Center for Board Effectiveness and the Society, the top five attributes boards are seeking in new directors are Industry Experience, Active CEO, Financial Expertise, Technology/IT, and International Business Exposure.
Equally noteworthy are these bottom-of-the-list attributes/areas of experience, which just 2% or fewer of boards are seeking in new directors:
- Sustainability
- Outside board service
- Scientific
- R&D
- Shareholder & investor communications
- Engineering
- Crisis Management
In a similar question asked in the 2014 Board Practices Report, top attributes sought were Industry, C-level, International Business Exposure, Risk Management, and Technology/IT.
Attributes and areas of experience being sought in new directors also vary by company sector - with Industry Experience ranking #1 for large-cap, mid-cap, and non-financial services companies; Technology/IT ranking first for small-caps; and Technology/IT & Industry Experience tying for first among financial services companies.
And most respondent companies - 63% overall - use a board skills matrix or similar tool in the nomination process to help focus the board/Nom/Gov committee on desired new director skills/attributes in the context of the board as a whole.
The iconic Board Practices Report - which presents findings from a survey distributed to the Society's public company members in late 2016 - covers trends in over 15 areas of board practices and hot topics including cyber risk, shareholder activism, and board diversity.