Russell Reynolds Associates: Global and Regional Trends in Corporate Governance for 2017

Russell Reynolds Associates recently interviewed numerous institutional and activist investors, pension fund managers, public company directors and other governance professionals about the trends and challenges that public company boards will face in 2017. The conversations yielded a wide array of perspectives about the forces that drive change in corporate governance landscape.

In the report, Russell Reynolds Associates explores the following trends and implications:

• Increasing expectations around the oversight role of the board, to include greater oversight of strategy and scenario planning, investor engagement, and executive succession planning.
• Continued focus on board refreshment and composition, with particular attention being paid to directors’ skill profiles, the currency of directors’ knowledge, director overboarding, diversity, and robust mechanisms for board refreshment that go beyond box-ticking exercises
• Greater scrutiny of company plans for sustained value creation, as concerns increase that activist settlement and other market forces are causing short-term priorities to compromise long-term interests.
• Greater focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues, and in particular those related to climate change and sustainability, as industries beyond the extractive sector begin to feel investor pressure in this area.

To view the full report, click here.