TheCorporateCounsel.net

Spencer Stuart is out with its 2026 Board Index – here’s an excerpt:

While boardroom continuity is valuable, many U.S. boards are still taking a too-cautious approach to refreshment. New S&P 500 director appointments in 2026 are at the lowest level since 2016, and director turnover declined year over year to 0.7 new directors per board.

The number of appointments also lagged the number of director departures in 2025, suggesting that not all directors were replaced. Appointments of both first-time and next-generation (next-gen) directors (those aged 50 and younger) have also declined as boards favored experienced directors.

With all the fast-moving risks and opportunities presented by AI, I was – in some ways – surprised to see this stat. The Board Index also says that 64% of incoming directors were either CEOs or financial professionals and 54% are retired. Industry-wise, though, people with tech/telecommunications backgrounds were in high demand: Constituting 17% of new-director appointments, along with industrials/manufacturing backgrounds.

Here are a few other stats:

– 80% of S&P 500 boards now include a director skills matrix in the proxy – though quality may vary

– 99% of boards have some sort of annual performance evaluation – with 33% using a third-party

– 63% of boards have a mandatory retirement policy – reflecting a steady decline from 73% in 2016

– 100% of boards have at least one woman director, and 98% have at least one underrepresented minority director

– The average number of board meetings has decreased to 7.5, compared to 8.4 in 2016 – the average number of committee meetings is also slightly lower than ten years ago

Check out the full Index – and the “new director snapshot” that Spencer Stuart published over the summer – for more info. Members can also visit our “Corporate Governance Surveys” Practice Area for a library of benchmarking resources!

– Liz Dunshee