2026 Proxy Season Global Trends: Boards of Directors

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:32:53 +0000

Posted by Brianna Castro, Ayşen Çelikmen, and Federica Soro, Glass, Lewis & Co., on Thursday, August 27, 2026

Editor's Note:

Brianna Castro is the Vice President, Ayşen Çelikmen is a Senior Analyst, and Federica Soro is a Senior Manager at Glass, Lewis & Co. This post is based on a Glass Lewis memorandum by Ms. Castro, Ms. Celikmen, Ms. Soro, Decky Windarto, Troy McKeown, and Naoko Ueno, all at Glass, Lewis & Co.

Key Takeaways

Cybersecurity oversight is now nearly universal at large cap companies. Defined board oversight of AI is emerging quickly, but still lags behind.
Shareholder voting on board elections remained largely consistent in North America.
While average opposition levels remained minimal among large European companies, instances of significant voting dissent on director elections more than doubled.
Most large-cap European and UK companies met new rules on gender balance, however, executive diversity remains below board-wide levels across Europe.
Board racial/ethnic diversity increased among North American and UK companies, but the trend of fewer U.S. companies providing aggregate or individual director reporting continued.

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The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

2026 Proxy Season Global Trends: Boards of Directors

Key Takeaways