Among the key takeaways from Nasdaq’s 2024 Global Governance Pulse survey of 872 predominantly (76%) Americas-based board members, executives, and governance professionals across public, private, and nonprofit (51% | 25% | 24%) organizations and sectors:
Board succession—A slight plurality - 42% - of respondents have a formalized, detailed board succession plan that is reviewed at least annually by the board or relevant committee, while 40% say they have a board composition and skills matrix that they discuss periodically or when a board seat opens.
Skills & experience—AI and machine learning and cybersecurity and data privacy topped respondents’ lists of skills and experiences that they believe would enhance their board’s composition and ensure alignment to the organization’s strategy. Relatedly, cybersecurity, data privacy, and information security were most commonly identified as the most important board continuing education topics.
Board evaluations—While nearly 80% of companies represented by respondents conduct an annual evaluation of the full board, less than half annually evaluate each committee. More than 70% of respondents use a questionnaire to collect feedback from their directors for their board evaluations and 60% facilitate their board evaluations internally, while 34% engage a third-party facilitator.
Board & committee meetings—Nearly three-quarters of companies hold meetings both in person and virtually (hybrid structure); less than half hold director-only executive sessions at each board meeting; and 27% allow non-committee members to attend committee meetings. Related to the latter data point (non-committee member meeting attendance), 71% of respondents said that their board committee schedules should be modified to hold committee meetings at separate times.
Board materials—The three changes most commonly cited as having the potential to improve the efficiency and impact of board meetings related to board meeting materials – specifically: (i) providing more concise and dynamic board meeting materials, (ii) organizing board materials to clearly prioritize topics for discussion, and (ii) distributing board materials further in advance of meetings.
The key takeaways highlight actions boards can consider to enhance their practices across the areas of board composition and culture; board evaluations; CEO evaluations and management oversight; governance practices, processes, and tools; and strategic and risk topics.