CHICAGO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Progress
toward gender parity on boards reversed in the past year, ending a
seven-year run of gains in the percentage of women among newly
appointed directors, according to a new study by Heidrick &
Struggles (NASDAQ: HSII), a premier provider of executive search,
leadership consulting and culture shaping worldwide.
Heidrick & Struggles' latest Board Monitor study
examines the class of independent directors who filled vacant or
newly created board seats at Fortune 500 companies in 2016. The
study analyzes trends in the data about gender, ethnicity and
industry experience, among others.
In 2016, women accounted for 27.8% of new director appointments
at Fortune 500 companies, a 2.0 percentage point decline from the
previous year. With this new data, the trend now indicates that
gender parity among an incoming class of directors will not be
achieved until 2032, six years later than the firm's previous
extrapolation.
"For some time, Fortune 500 companies had been achieving slow
but steady progress increasing the percent of incoming women
directors. However, in the past year, we have seen a setback," said
Bonnie Gwin, vice chairman and
co-managing partner of the global CEO & Board Practice for
Heidrick & Struggles.
In 2016, Fortune 500 companies filled 421 vacant or newly
created board seats with independent directors, a new high since
the inception of Board Monitor in 2009.
"The number of incoming directors has slowly increased over
time, providing further opportunity to better diversify boardrooms.
So it is disappointing to see that more progress wasn't achieved to
move closer to gender parity in corporate boardrooms," added
Gwin.
Women accounted for 37% of new board appointees serving on
boards for the first time in 2016, nearly 10 percentage points
higher than women's share of new appointments overall. "When
companies place more value on a candidate's unique set of skills
and experiences than on his or her previous board experience, there
is more opportunity for women and people from other
underrepresented groups to gain greater representation in the
boardroom," said Gwin.
Tech Sector Is Surprising Bright Spot for Women
Directors
Technology companies have long trailed companies in other
sectors in many facets of diversity, including women on boards.
However, the latest Board Monitor report found that women
directors made substantial gains in the tech sector, with women
accounting for 40% of the board seats filled in the industry. This
is up roughly 13.5 percentage points compared to Heidrick &
Struggles' data from 2015.
"More technology companies are moving forward to better
represent women on their boards," Gwin said. "In fact, we
have seen more diversity in tech boardrooms among technology
companies following the formation of the HP and HPE boards two
years ago."
The HP and HPE boards were formed to govern the two companies
that emerged from Hewlett-Packard's split in November 2015.
Hispanic Director Appointments Rise Sharply
In 2016, 6.4% of new directors appointed were Hispanic—the
highest figure recorded by Board Monitor—up from 4.0% in
2015. While Hispanics continue to be underrepresented in the
boardroom relative to their percentage of the U.S. population, the
data shows considerable improvement compared to previous reports
and represents a 60% increase over 2015.
"We think this increase is due to more boards focusing on
inclusion, and an effort to have companies' boardrooms better
reflect their customer base and employee population," said
Jeff Sanders, vice chairman and
co-managing partner of the global CEO & Board Practice.
Some 59% of Hispanic director appointees went to consumer
boards, 15% to industrial boards, and 15% to financial services
boards. In terms of total appointments by industry, Hispanics
assumed almost 12% of available seats in consumer, 6.6% in
financial services, 5% in technology, 3.7% in life sciences, 3% in
industrial, and zero in business services.
Other key findings of the study include:
- Nearly one quarter of new board appointees in 2016 had no
previous board experience. Of those first-timers, most went to
consumer boards (35%), industrial boards (25%) and financial
services boards (15%).
- Current and former CEOs and CFOs together accounted for
almost 66% of director appointments in 2016. While this is down
from the eight-year high of 73% in 2015, it indicates that most
companies are continuing to favor the C-suite when looking for new
directors.
For the complete 2017 Heidrick & Struggles Board
Monitor report, visit
http://www.heidrick.com/Knowledge-Center/Publication/Board-Monitor-2017.
About Heidrick & Struggles:
Heidrick &
Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII) serves the executive talent and leadership
needs of the world's top organizations as a premier provider of
leadership consulting, culture shaping and senior-level executive
search services. Heidrick & Struggles pioneered the profession
of executive search more than 60 years ago. Today, the firm serves
as a trusted advisor, providing integrated leadership solutions and
helping its clients change the world, one leadership team at a
time. www.heidrick.com.
Media
Contact:
Alex Brown - +1 312.496.1871
abrown@heidrick.com
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SOURCE Heidrick & Struggles