Spencer Stuart 2006 Board Diversity Report

Companies have gotten the message on board diversity — discussions are much richer when those seated around the boardroom table bring varied backgrounds and can offer different perspectives on board issues. But the numbers have yet to catch up.

• In the Spencer Stuart 2006 Board Diversity Report, we examined diversity among the top 200 companies in the S&P 500. We found that despite the apparent desire of many companies to gain greater diversity in the boardroom, the numbers are still relatively small. Specifically, we found that:
• Of the 2,357 directors, 16% are women; 97% of boards have at least one female director: and 64% have more than one female director.
• As a group, minorities (which include African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians) account for 15% of directors; 90% of all boards have at least one minority director; and 50% have more than one minority director.
• Representation of women on boards varies widely by industry. Women represent 20% of directors in consumer non-cyclicals and 18% of directors in services. Women, however, only account for 10% of all directors on capital goods boards.
• Minority directors have the greatest representation in consumer cyclicals (20%) and the lowest representation in energy (10%).

While many groups and other studies may take boards to task for not making diversity a priority, we do not believe this is the case. We suspect there are other important — but perhaps more difficult to measure — variables that have made it difficult to achieve a more diverse board. We offer suggestions on what it takes to find and recruit the best diversity directors.

For information about copying, distributing and displaying this work, contact permissions@spencerstuart.com.