Directors to watch 2014.

• Author: Chase, Scott
• Position: DIRECTORS TO WATCH

Activism, as many directors have discovered, comes in many different varieties. For some, aggressive shareholders disrupting annual meetings, pushing inconvenient votes, or requesting sensitive information are at the perigee of owner empowerment. For others, activism in the digital age has taken a different form, with agitators sometimes having no stake whatsoever in the targeted company itself but rather in an ideal or a cause that affects the boardroom and often the company's reputation.

Boards that pay lip service to the concept of gender diversity but take no easily discernible action to achieve it have come under the microscope of groups that seek to drive inclusion. Such is the case with Monster Beverage Corp., which earlier this year was criticized for recommending a vote against a board diversity proposal. The 2020 Challenge--"a national campaign to increase the percentage of women on U.S. company boards to 20% or greater by the year 2020," spearheaded by 2020 Women on Boards--led the charge on this effort, demanding that the company "comply with California Resolution 62 and add at least two women" to its board. While denouncing the energy drink bottler, 2020 Challenge at the same time showered kudos on the boards of PepsiCo Inc. (36% women), Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (33% women), and Coca-Cola Co. (24% women).

Board and CEO search firm Heidrick & Struggles two months ago released the results of research on gender diversity that The Washington Post characterized as blending good news with bad. Here's the good news: Bonnie Gwin, vice chairman and...