In the 12 months covered by the 2024 UK Spencer Stuart Board Index, 214 directors departed from the 150 featured boards and 196 new board members were appointed, representing a 13% board renewal rate (compared with 222 new board members appointed in 2023, 15%).
The majority of new chairs and non-executive directors (78%) have a portfolio career, meaning they hold only non-executive (NED) board roles. Of these, 56% have at least one other listed company directorship.
The proportion of non-nationals appointed to boards has risen slightly from 36% to 39%, but remains far lower than the 53% of non-nationals recorded among the 2022 cohort.
The average age of new NEDs is 57.4 years, compared with 59.7 years for all board members.
New directors on the board
FTSE 150 board composition vs. general population
38% of new directors come from a different industry to the company they are joining.
Background of new directors in 2024
Note: Providing detailed, comprehensive and up-to-date information on the minority ethnic background of directors has become increasingly difficult. First, not all directors choose to self-identify. Second, reporting is not consistent. Third, it is increasingly common for companies to report the number of minority ethnic directors on the board, but not to provide this information at the level of individual directors. While this is perfectly understandable, it does mean that our data on the ethnicity minority background of new directors in particular is likely to be incomplete.
New chairs
Twenty-two new chairs were appointed in the past year (the same number as in 2023, representing a renewal rate of 15%).
- Six chairs had served on the board for more than one year before commencing their role as board chair.
- Seven are first-time chairs: Andrea Bertone (Drax Group), John Bryant (Flutter Entertainment), Alistair Elliott (LondonMetric Property), Rupert Soames (Smith & Nephew), Tim Smith (Cranswick), Anne Wade (Man Group) and Graeme Watt (Softcat).
- Six new chairs are women, the most we have recorded in a single year: Andrea Bertone (Drax Group), Danuta Gray (Croda International), Alison Platt (Hargreaves Lansdown), Caroline Silver (Barratt Developments), Anne Wade (Man Group) and Cressida Hogg (BAE Systems).
- One executive chair was appointed: Said Darwazah (Hikma Pharmaceuticals).
- One former CEO was appointed as non-executive chair: Graeme Watt (Softcat).
- The average age of new chairs at the time of appointment was 63.7 years.
Of the 22 new chairs, 10 are or have been the senior independent director of a listed company board, including four of the six new female chairs. No chair was appointed directly from the position of senior independent director of the same company.
New executive directors on the board
26 CEOs were appointed in the past year (18% of the total). Five of these are women: Debra Crew (Diageo), Stella David (Entain, interim CEO), Michelle Grew (Man Group), Allison Kirkby (BT Group), and Margherita Della Valle (Vodafone). Four other new CEOs have self-identified as having a minority ethnic background.
Of the 87% of boards with sitting CFOs, 23% (30) have been appointed in the past year. In this group, there are eight new women CFOs. One new CFO self-identifies as minority ethnic.
Aside from CEOs and CFOs, four additional executive directors were appointed during the period, including two at Frasers Group. Next has five executive directors on the board, the highest number in our sample; Frasers Group, Derwent London, and Dunelm each have four executive directors on the board.
First-time NEDs
For the second year in row, the proportion of first-time listed company directors among the new director cohort has dropped, after a peak in 2022 (see chart below).
Proportion of newly appointed NEDs taking on a board role for the first time
Out of 196 appointments, 49 are first-time directors, compared with 56 out of 181 appointments in 2023. The proportion of women among first-time directors has increased from 45% in 2023 to 55%, whereas the proportion of first-time mom-national directors has dropped from 48% to 43%.
48% of first-time directors are serving executives of another company, compared with 52% in 2022.
4% of first-time directors have declared that they have a minority ethnic background.
This year’s cohort of first-time non-executive directors is older than the 2023 cohort at 56.7 years (vs 54.7), and 3.4 years younger than the average of all NEDs (60.1 years).
Functional experience of new directors and first-timers
Note: First-timers total 101% due to rounding