Each year, Spencer Stuart reviews the governance trends among retail and apparel companies through our annual Retail & Apparel Board Index, which examines the board composition and practices of the leading U.S. companies in the industry. This year’s index includes data from 98 retail and apparel companies with retail businesses generating at least $1 billion annually.
Some highlights from this year’s index include the following:
- A little more than three-quarters of directors at retail and apparel companies are independent, a 5% decrease from 2010.
- More companies are splitting the roles of CEO and chairman, up 6% to 59% for the year. This continues the upward trend, with measured on 39% back in the 2008 index.
- Conversely, a mere 53% of retail boards have identified a lead or presiding director, a marked decrease from 70% last year.
- 93% of all retail and apparel boards feature at least one woman director, compared with 90% among all S&P 500 companies. Women make up 18% of all retail directors.
- Annual elections continue to become the norm, as 72% of retail and apparel firms now elect their directors every year. The trend has swung upward from 65% in 2009 and 70% in 2010.
- Retail and apparel boards continue to meet less frequently. The average number of board meetings dropped again to 7.3 times in 2011, compared with 7.6 times in 2010, 7.9 times in 2009 and 8.1 times in 2008.
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