Board Practices and Composition: 2024 Edition
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Corporate Board Practices

Board Practices and Composition: 2024 Edition

28 November 2024 / Report

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Despite record levels of demographic diversity in board composition, directional trends are slowing amid an increasingly complex economic and social environment. This report provides a detailed analysis of evolving board composition and practices in 2024, focusing on public companies in the Russell 3000 and S&P 500 indexes.

Key Insights

  • As boards look to diversify their composition demographically, the percentage of directors who are former C-Suite executives or former executives below the C-Suite is rising.
  • While US corporate boards are more demographically diverse than ever, the proportion of new directors from non-White backgrounds is decreasing.
  • A rise in overboarding policies, which limit the number of boards on which directors can serve, may reflect an emphasis on ensuring that directors can effectively fulfill their responsibilities, as well as certain investor and proxy advisor prescriptions.
  • Board excellence practices are evolving, with some larger companies sponsoring education and evaluation practices.
  • Only a small proportion of companies has established a designated sustainability or environmental, social & governance (ESG) committee, as many have allocated ESG responsibilities to existing committees and some boards are uncertain of the long-term trajectory of ESG-related initiatives.

Despite record levels of demographic diversity in board composition, directional trends are slowing amid an increasingly complex economic and social environment. This report provides a detailed analysis of evolving board composition and practices in 2024, focusing on public companies in the Russell 3000 and S&P 500 indexes.

Key Insights

  • As boards look to diversify their composition demographically, the percentage of directors who are former C-Suite executives or former executives below the C-Suite is rising.
  • While US corporate boards are more demographically diverse than ever, the proportion of new directors from non-White backgrounds is decreasing.
  • A rise in overboarding policies, which limit the number of boards on which directors can serve, may reflect an emphasis on ensuring that directors can effectively fulfill their responsibilities, as well as certain investor and proxy advisor prescriptions.
  • Board excellence practices are evolving, with some larger companies sponsoring education and evaluation practices.
  • Only a small proportion of companies has established a designated sustainability or environmental, social & governance (ESG) committee, as many have allocated ESG responsibilities to existing committees and some boards are uncertain of the long-term trajectory of ESG-related initiatives.
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Authors

Andrew Jones, PhD

Andrew Jones, PhD Andrew Jones, PhD

Senior Researcher, ESG Center
The Conference Board

Read Bio

Merel Spierings

Merel Spierings Merel Spierings

Former Senior Researcher, ESG Center
The Conference Board

Read Bio

Paul Hodgson

Paul Hodgson Paul Hodgson

Senior Contributor, Governance, ESG Center
ESGAUGE - ESG Intelligence & Analytics

Read Bio

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