Board Leadership Structure

This Director Notes is the second in a series of four studies developed in collaboration with Davis Polk & Wardwell to provide guidelines and examples to member companies of The Conference Board on emerging practices following the SEC enhanced disclosure reform of December 2009. The analysis of 2010 proxy statements of Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 companies shows that over 75 percent of surveyed companies continue to combine the CEO/chairman positions. Also, a large majority does not have formal policies that address whether the CEO may assume the chairmanship, but rather believe that the directors should be able to exercise their discretion in light of prevailing circumstances.