It’s time for our annual predictions of the major corporate governance trends for the new year. Before we dust off our crystal ball, though, we need to check our record for 2015. How did we do?
We missed—but by only a hair—our leading prediction that, for the first time, a majority of S&P 500 companies would split the chair and CEO jobs. Spencer Stuart’s latest Board Index shows the percentage inching up a notch to 48 percent rather than crossing the line to a majority. Still, 48 percent is yet another record. Moreover, a new high of 29 percent of S&P 500 boards featured not just a separate chair, but a chair who is fully independent. Ten years ago, the comparable figure was a mere 9 percent. The trend is clear, even if momentum lagged the pace we forecast.
