Women on Silicon Valley boards at all-time high.

PositionBOARD SURVEY

The percentage of women directors on Silicon Valley boards has hit a new high, one of several emerging trends revealed in the 2010 Silicon Valley Board Index, Spencer Stuart's study of the board composition and practices of 100 leading Silicon Valley technology companies.

"The changes in corporate governance we've seen over the past year are the most extensive we've observed since our annual study's 2003 debut," says Jonathan Visbal, Spencer Stuart consultant and study co-author. Adds Spencer Stuart consultant and study co-author Nayla Rizk, "As the Valley's technology companies mature, we are seeing board diversity and independence reach unprecedented levels." Among the notable findings in the 2010 Silicon Valley Board Index:

Female representation spikes:

* Fifty-six percent of Silicon Valley boards now have at least one woman director, up from 51% last year--the highest increase in the percentage of boards with female representation since the launch of the survey in 2003.

* Twenty percent of new independent directors named to boards in 2010 were women.

* Women still make up just 9% of the total number of independent directors on Silicon Valley boards, an increase from 8% last year. Silicon Valley boards still trail the S&P 500 significantly in this regard, since 16% of S&P 500 directors are female.

Boards with Female Directors SV100 SV100 S&P 500 >$5B $1B-$5B $500M-$1B $250M-$500M

Board size continues its increase:

* The average board today has eight members, up from seven in 2003. Just 38% of boards now have seven or fewer members, down from the 58% of boards that had seven or fewer members in 2003.

* S&P 500 boards, which average 11 members, have been consistently larger than Silicon Valley boards. Sixty-nine percent of S&P 500 boards have 10 or more members, compared with 17% of Silicon Valley boards (down from 19% last year).

* Silicon Valley boards range in size from four to 13 members, while S&P 500 boards range from as few as five members to as many as 32.

Independent director representation stays strong:

* Eighty-three percent of Silicon Valley board directors are independent, roughly the same as in 2009 and nearly identical to the 84% of board directors who are independent on S&P 500 boards.

* Meanwhile, a historic number of boards are splitting the chairman and CEO roles, with 70% of Silicon Valley boards now separating the responsibilities, up from 65% last year and from 45% in 2004, the first year that Spencer Stuart tracked...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT