Merel Spierings is Senior Researcher at The Conference Board ESG Center in New York. This post relates to Corporate Board Practices in the Russell 3000, S&P 500, and S&P MidCap 400: Live Dashboard, a live online dashboard published by The Conference Board and ESG data analytics firm ESGAUGE, in collaboration with Debevoise & Plimpton, the KPMG Board Leadership Center, Russell Reynolds Associates, and The John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.
Independent Director Experience
Qualifications and Skills
While business strategy is the most cited experience for directors, the share of board members whom companies report as having such expertise continues to decline. In the S&P 500, the percentage of directors with such experience—as reported in the proxy statement or other disclosure documents—declined from 70 percent in 2018 to 59 percent in 2023. In the Russell 3000, the decline was even more pronounced, from 68 percent in 2018 to 55 percent in 2023.