Research
US chief executives unwilling to serve on other company boards
Fortune 500 chief executives (CEOs) are becoming
increasingly unwilling to serve on boards of other companies, with a 53% decline
in the outside board seats they have filled since 1990,
research by
JamesDruryPartners, an executive
search firm, has found.
The study examined filings and annual reports from 1990
to June 2006, and uncovered not only “CEO flight”, with 418 seats abandoned by
CEOs, but that those continuing to sit on outside boards have reduced their
commitments from an average of 2.2 seats to 1.4 seats.
Jim Drury, the firm’s CEO, called this development a
“stealth revolution” that is robbing boards of a vital source of knowledge and
“real world” experience.
The report concludes that governance activists,
increased regulation and heightened scrutiny may be pushing the US towards a
weakened governance system, with experienced leaders continuing to exit boards;
and decreased transparency of business performance as companies are increasingly
taken private.
Links
JamesDruryPartners
April, 2007 |
