Heidrick & Struggles' annual "Board Monitor" revealed that women comprised 44% of the 467 newly appointed Fortune 500 independent directors in 2019 - the highest percentage of women among new directors since the firm's tracking began in 2009.
Additional key findings based on 2019 data include:
- African-Americans accounted for 10%, Hispanics for 5%, and Asians and Asian Americans for 8%, of new board seats.
- 72% of new directors had prior public company board experience.
- Current and former CEOs accounted for 50% of director appointments (down 10% from 2018). CFO's accounted for 21% of new board seats - on par with recent years.
- 64% of new appointees had international experience (down 4% from 2018). A significant 40% of new appointees had digital or social media experience – up from 10% in 2016, and 14% had cybersecurity experience - up from 6% in 2017.
- The top two areas of executive career experience for new appointees (overall, as well as for women and individuals of color) aside from C-suite functional experience were P&L leadership and private equity/venture capital experience.
See the graphics throughout the report; Heidrick & Struggles' release; "Ethnic & Gender Diversity on US Public Company Boards" (Russell Reynolds); "Women gaining corporate board seats at a faster rate than men, study shows" (Bizwomen); and additional resources on our Board Composition, Board Diversity, and Board Refreshment pages. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!