Dive Brief:
- The number of new directors to Russell 3000 and S&P 500 companies dropped as fewer boards added new members and fewer first-time directors were elected in 2026, according to a new report from The Conference Board.
- Newly elected directors represented 8.5% of all directors at Russell 3000 companies and 8.2% of all directors at S&P 500 companies, down from 9.2% and 9.1%, respectively, the year prior. Over half (52.6%) of Russell 3000 companies added no new directors last year, while 43.8% S&P 500 companies made no additions, according to the report.
- The slowed refreshment rate comes as boards are dealing with “a broader and faster-moving oversight agenda,” including topics from artificial intelligence, geopolitical and regulatory uncertainty, ESG and more, the report said.
Dive Insight:
The report, released Monday, found that the refreshment rate at public companies has fallen from an unusual high in 2022, when over 13% of all directors at Russell 3000 companies were newly elected.
The report said that prior to that spike, new directors accounted for around 10% of all Russell 3000 directors from 2018 to 2021, and The Conference Board said that “the slowdown since then has been accompanied by greater continuity among sitting directors.”
However, as corporations look to find the right composition for their boards, the question is not simply whether to retain the existing group or bring in new faces.
“The central governance tension in 2026 goes beyond renewal versus continuity,” the report said. “It is how boards preserve experience and enterprise judgment while ensuring that their skills, leadership, oversight structures, and individual director capacity remain fit for a changing business environment.”
First time director appointments hit a five-year low in 2026, the report said. After first-time directors made up 39.1% of all newly elected Russell 3000 directors and 27.8% of all newly elected S&P 500 directors in 2025, they accounted for 21.6% of Russell 3000 directors and 17.6% of S&P 500 directors this year.
Former CEOs are still the most well-represented category of independent directors among both Russell 3000 and S&P 500 companies, when compared to active CEOs, other former C-suite executives, former executives outside of the C-suite and active non-C-suite executives, the report found.
“Slower refreshment and greater reliance on seasoned executive backgrounds can strengthen continuity and judgment, but they can also narrow the entry path for candidates without prior public company leadership experience,” the report said.
As such, there is greater weight given to how companies define, assess and search for the experience needed to oversee their companies. Nearly half (47.8%) of Russell 3000 companies and 81.1% of S&P 500 companies shared a skill matrix for their boards, the report said, which are both record shares.
In those skills matrices, the number of directors reporting AI skills has more than doubled in the past year — from 1.4% in 2025 to 3.3% at Russell 3000 companies in 2026 and from 2.7% of S&P 500 directors to 5.4%. Strategy, technology and international experience are the most commonly reported skills among Russell 3000 and S&P 500 directors.
“The core issue is allocation, not labels,” the report said. “The appropriate board and committee structure should reflect the company’s complexity, sector, regulatory exposure, risk profile, and strategic priorities.”
The Conference Board wrote the Nov. 2 report in collaboration with KPMG, Russell Reynolds Associates, data analytics firm ESGAUGE and the University of Delaware’s Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. The report uses public company disclosure data, including securities filings and company documents that are accurate as of Sept. 15.
The report also found that disclosure of boards’ demographic makeup has fallen. Less than 10% (7.9%) of Russell 3000 companies now disclose the race and ethnicity of individual directors, down from a 2023 high of 19.7% of companies providing such disclosures. Disclosure among S&P 500 companies has fallen from a high of 42.5% of companies in 2024 to 17.2% in 2026.
The share of women on boards has also plateaued. Women as a share of all directors has stayed around 29% of Russell 3000 directors for the past three years and around a third of all S&P 500 directors for the same period. Women are being appointed to a higher share of board leadership roles like chair, audit committee chair and the nominating or governance committee chair, but the share of women as newly appointed directors and first time directors has also fallen, according to The Conference Board.
“Lower board turnover means fewer opportunities to change composition, but turnover alone does not explain the decline, as women also accounted for a smaller share of the directors who were appointed,” the report said.
