Slowly, Board Turnover Rises Amid Calls to ‘Refresh’

As a result of the steady drumbeat for boards to “refresh” their membership, board turnover appears to be inching upward. And many directors say the slow pace of change is a good thing. In its recently released 2016 Board Practices Study, ISS reports that new directors claimed 13.3% of all directorships among S&P 1500 companies last year. Three years ago, the percentage was 10%. The figure has risen at least 1%. ISS attributes the steadily rising percentage of new directors to well-funded and organized calls on boards to increase gender diversity, and pressure on directors to limit board seats. “It could certainly be the start of increasing board turnover,” Bowie says, “which would be a trend that you would expect to see with the increased emphasis of late on the need for more diverse boards, and perhaps getting new thinking onto a lot of boards.”