Spencer Stuart's survey on 70 S&P 500 and Fortune 500 Nom/Gov Committee Chairs about certain key governance implications of COVID-19 generated some important insights that should be considered by corporate secretaries and other governance professionals and their boards of directors.
- Virtual meetings: 84% of Nom/Gov Chairs expect to move toward more virtual board meetings and nearly half (48%) expect to eliminate their in-person annual shareholder meetings. Relatedly, 70% of the 722 corporate secretaries & governance professionals responding to the UK's "Company Secretary Market Survey 2020 - The Impact of Covid-19 & Remuneration" (courtesy of the ICSA, the Society's UK counterpart) conducted in April/May believe virtual board meetings will be more likely going forward because they are cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
- Board refreshment: Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Nom/Gov Chairs anticipate no change to board refreshment plans. Another 24% expect to slow their refreshment plans and just 3% plan to accelerate them. These results may reflect discomfort in appointing new directors to the board remotely, as 58% of respondents indicated they were somewhat or very uncomfortable appointing a director to the board without meeting in person.
- Director Experience: Experienced directors serving on multiple boards have been most highly valued, whereas first-time directors have been more likely to be perceived as low or no value, as shown here:
- Committee structure: Just 6% of boards are considering changes to their board committee structure in the way of additional committees.
See our prior reports: "Lessons Learned: Seasoned "Generalist" Directors Back in Vogue" and "Pandemic Crystallizes Ideal Director Profile." This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!