Directors & Boards celebrates 30 years: the journal was founded during a tumultuous period for corporate governance and three decades later is still documenting turbulent times in boardrooms. An illustrated history of milestones and touchstones along the way.

• Author: Kristie, James
• Position: Cover story

1976

Directors & Boards is founded by business consultant and publishing entrepreneur Stanley Foster Reed to be the thought leadership journal in corporate governance. The U.S. business world is embroiled in a major governance crisis, instigated by widespread undisclosed payoffs to foreign agents to gain contracts. Congress will pass the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act the following year, forcing companies to tighten their internal accounting controls, while the SEC begins a heightened focus on the role and activities of corporate boards.

1977

Perennial hot topic: Compensation consultant John Balkcom presents a sweeping history of the social, regulatory, accounting, and strategic high points in the evolution of executive compensation, a topic that will be tackled in virtually every issue of the journal henceforth. (Balkcom will update this history for D & B 20 years later.)

1978

Publisher Stanley Foster Reed authors "On the Dynamics of Group Decisionmaking in High Places," a major treatment of the psychological dimensions--i.e., problems of "group think"--in boardroom interactions.

1980

The journal is acquired by international consulting firm Hay Associates. The transaction is led by Leonard Zweig, formerly editor of the Wharton School's journal, who will oversee a new management education publishing unit of Hay.

Alexandra Reed (later to become Alexandra Lajoux) assumes editor-in-chief position. Following her service with D & B, she will have a long career with the National Association of Corporate Directors, including serving as editor of its monthly newsletter.

1980

The journal's first editorial advisory board is formed. Arthur D. Little Chairman Robert K. Mueller, a preeminent consultant, thinker, and writer on corporate governance, is a forceful member who will serve on the board until his death in 1999.

1981

DIRECTORS & BOARDS is relocated from McLean, Va., to Philadelphia, where Hay is based. Hay's managing partner, Dr. Milton L. Rock, becomes publisher.

James Kristie joins a newly formed publishing staff and begins a 25-year tenure editing the journal.

Goldman Sachs Co-Chairman John C. Whitehead is among several corporate leaders added to a newly constituted editorial advisory board.

1982

The journal accepts its first commercial advertising. First marketers on board include Merrill Lynch, Prudential, Goldman Sachs, W.R. Grace & Co., and Westinghouse.

The article "Is Any CEO Worth $1 Million a Year?," a debate involving nine compensation committee chairmen, is a prescient preview of the future challenges awaiting boards in approving executive pay programs.

1982

Gen. David C. Jones, chairman of...