Academic Study Discusses Continuity and Change on Corporate Boards

An academic paper published in November titled “When Bill Rolls Off: Continuity and Change on Corporate Boards” highlights how women have become more represented on boards through retirement transitions and trends seen in the corporate board space. While the authors, Peter Cziraki and Adriana Robertson, focus their research on corporate boards, there are interesting and practical takeaways for fund boards. The study focuses on three patterns: the increase in women with board experience, board size, and the trend toward replacing men with women directors. The study notes that “Conditional on experience, women receive more new independent director positions than men, but only in the past few years; prior to that, there was no difference between men and women.” Regarding board size, the study stated that “on average, about a third of the increase in women is associated with an expansion in board size, but this increase is transitory.” The authors’ noted “a larger board may benefit from more diversity, but size may also come with costs… efforts to change board composition are likely to be gradual: not only must companies identify new candidates, they may also need to wait for a seat to open up (or be on the verge of opening up) through retirement or the standard board refreshment process.” The study found that women appear to replace men who are rolling off in the ordinary course, such as through retirement, rather than boards increasing in size to add women.

Click here to download and read the study “When Bill Rolls Off: Continuity and Change on Corporate Boards.”