US public and private company directors responding to KPMG’s August – October 2021 survey on board diversity identified replacement of a retiring director and strategic necessity/staying competitive as the top two triggers most likely to prompt their board to recruit new directors over the next several years, with 73% of directors selecting replacement of a retiring director, and 51% of directors selecting strategic necessity/staying competitive, among their top three reasons for new director recruitment.
Nearly one-third of US respondents indicated that their board is lacking and actively recruiting racially/ethnically diverse directors. In contrast, while only 14% said their board currently has sexual orientation diversity, just 5% said that they lack and are actively recruiting this type of diversity, and nearly half said it was not relevant.
A majority of US respondents say their boards have expertise in risk management, human capital management, and experience in an industry complementary but different from the company’s industry. While nearly half say their boards have expertise in technology/digital strategy, 20% of respondents indicated that their board is lacking and actively recruiting such expertise.
More than half of US respondents said that their board’s overall composition would be moderately different from its current makeup if they were to rebuild their board to best meet their company’s needs for today and the future.
The report reveals the results of the survey of more than 700 directors worldwide and includes big picture takeaways in addition to region-specific data.
See KPMG’s release and additional resources on our Board Diversity, Board Recruitment & Succession/Refreshment, and Board Composition page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!