The 13th annual Canadian Spencer Stuart Board Index (CSSBI) published by the global executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart, studies director compensation, governance practices and trends for 100 of the largest publicly traded Canadian companies (annual revenues exceeding $1 billion) and includes comparisons with comparable U.S. companies. The 2008 CSSBI also contains a special report on director succession, touching on recruitment challenges and the changing profiles of incoming directors to the boards of leading Canadian companies.
This past year, we analyzed all the directors appointed to CSSBI 100 boards (over 600 individuals) since 2000 to further understand the succession dynamics of many leading Canadian companies. Key findings include: Individuals without prior public company experience (“first timers”) are being increasingly appointed to CSSBI 100 boards. First Timers made up an average of 24 % of all new board appointments from 2006 to 2008, up from 14 % from 2002 to 2005. Women represented a growing proportion of the first timers. Also in 2008, the proportion of women directors serving on CSSBI 100 boards showed its first increase since 2005, edging up 5% over the prior year. Women made up 21% of all new board appointments from 2006 to 2008, up from 13% from 2002 to 2005. CSSBI 100 boards have also caught up to the boards of comparable U.S. firms in terms of gender diversity.
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