John Roe is Head of ISS Analytics and Managing Director at Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. This post is based on an ISS publication by Mr. Roe.
One criticism frequently leveled against boards of directors is that, when it comes to filling vacant board seats, they don’t cast the net widely enough. The numbers clearly show that boards often fill seats with candidates that have previous board experience—it’s even written right into the job description given to search firms in some cases. And, for many boards, that’s an understandable request—bringing on a “proven” director can side-step some of the concerns that shareholders and other board members may have.
But the flip side of the coin is that the seeming preference for directors with previous board experience may hamper efforts to bring new and diverse views into the boardroom. Some cynics wonder, if companies are simply cycling through the same individuals again and again to fill vacant seats, how many new views are companies actually bringing into the boardroom?
