TheCorporateCounsel.net

The board composition report from Heidrick & Struggles that I blogged about yesterday noted that companies are looking to add directors whose backgrounds combine a mix of traditional expertise with other skills, such as sustainability or cybersecurity expertise. That need for new expertise may increase the opportunities for non-CEO executives to join the board of another company and may prompt some companies to rethink policies on outside board service to accommodate key executives’ desire to serve on a board.

This Perkins Coie blog provides some thoughts on outside board service by non-CEOs and offers recommendations on best practices in evaluating those opportunities and policing the issues that may arise. This excerpt addresses two significant issues – potential conflicts and time commitments:

– Conflicts & Related Party Transactions: Before anything else, ask – does the company making the invitation somehow raise the prospect of a risk of a conflict of interest – or even the appearance of one? Or might there be material related party transactions involved? This requires some homework and careful thought: the invited officer will need to learn the strategic goals of the inviting company – and consider if these now (or may in the future) overlap with and conflict the current employer’s interests. Even if the two companies are not competitors, could they enter into a related party transaction down the road that may need to be disclosed in either company’s proxy? Even seemingly innocuous disclosure could be considered a negative from an ISS, Glass Lewis or investor point of view.

Also consider reputational issues of the company who is offering the board seat, and whether they could negatively impact the employer.

– Assess Committee Obligations & Expected Time Commitment: What will be the time commitment of a board seat? And is putting in that time practical from the standpoint of the amount of time the executive is expected to put in for her employer? Consider both the expected hours commitment – and the reality of periodic “crunch” times that pop up during the inevitable crises that arise. There may be some executive roles – a CFO for some companies – who would be hard-pressed to appropriately deal with an M&A transaction or serious investigation in their role as a director without interfering with that officer’s responsibilities during earnings season, for example.

Yet a Chief HR Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Legal Officer or Chief Sustainability Officer, with the right staff support, may be able to juggle both.

Other recommendations include limiting on service to one outside board, establishing a formal pre-approval process, monitoring director compensation received by the executive, and including board service as part of the executive’s annual performance appraisal process.

– John Jenkins