Leadership Independence for SV150, Majority Voting for S&P 100.

• Position: Director Data

Since 2002, Fenwick & West has surveyed the corporate governance practices of the companies included in the Standard & Poor's 100 Index (S&P 100) and the technology and life sciences companies included in the Fenwick-Bloomberg Law Silicon Valley 150 List (SV 150).

"Insider" board leadership started lower and declined more rapidly in technology and life sciences companies in the SV 150 compared to S&P 100 companies overthe last 15 years and by the 2011 proxy season, almost half of SV 150 companies did not have an insider serving as chair, though that trend has largely stalled. In the SV 150, 54% of companies in the 2019 proxy season did not have a current insider chair, compared to only 24% in the S&P 100. In the 2019 proxy season, about 34.7% of companies in the SV 150 had the same person serving as chair and CEO, compared with about 66% of S&P 100 companies.

The implementation of some form of...