Record number of women appointed to Fortune 500 boards

May113, 2022

The gist:

The Report states that: “The pandemic era’s increased focus on social justice movements, environmental sustainability, and cybersecurity, board appointments saw a pronounced shift to professionals with more diverse backgrounds in 2020. That trend has been maintained in 2021.

Here are some of the highlights:

• The share of new seats filled by Black directors maintained its significant uptick from 2020 (28%), remaining relatively flat at 26%. Black professionals accounted for between 9%-11% of new appointments between 2015 and 2019.

• The 2021 results saw a sizable increase in appointments with cybersecurity and sustainability experience. The share of new seats filled by people with cybersecurity experience more than doubled from 8% in 2020 to 17% in 2021, while the share of new appointments with sustainability experience jumped from 6% in 2020 to 14% in 2021

• A record share of seats were filled by first time directors on Public Boards—43%. On the whole these directors bring more diversity of experience and background.

• As companies sought to diversify boards, the proportion of current or former CEOs and CFOs dropped. CEOs accounted for 40% of appointees in 2021, down from a high of 60% in 2018; CFOs made up 14% of appointees in 2021, down from a high of 21% in 2020.

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Read the whole report here.