2022 Inside the Public Company Boardroom

Inside the Public Company Boardroom leverages information from NACD partners to create a snapshot of what the boards of Russell 3000 Index companies look like in 2022, utilizing data from Main Data Group, a provider of executive-compensation benchmarking, and MyLogIQ, a provider of public company intelligence.

Key Findings

The percentage of board seats occupied by women in the Russell 3000 has slowly but consistently increased over time. This year, women accounted for 41 percent of the incoming director class and only 17 percent of the departing class. The percentage of women currently serving increases with market capitalization. The most rapid increases over time have been at small and mid-cap companies.

Board independence has changed little relative to last year in the Russell 3000, though it has increased gradually over time. In 2020, only 15 percent of boards in the Russell 3000 had compositions where 90 percent of board members were independent directors. This increased to 17 percent last year, and continued to increase to 18 percent this year.

The use of executive and finance committees have both decreased across Russell 3000 companies over the last three years. Meanwhile, the use of risk and technology committees has increased.

Relative to the directors in the outgoing class, a higher percentage of directors in this year’s incoming class have technology skills. The outgoing class, however, includes more directors with financial skills and strategic vision. These are skills that a majority of directors possess, however, while less than half (43%) of Russell 3000 directors have skills related to technology.

Year over year, there is little change in the tenure of those in board leadership positions, though across a time frame of three years, the tenure of those in the board chair role has slowly decreased. Meanwhile, the percentage of women in leadership positions has slowly increased.