September 2022 Report Summary

Companies continue to diversify board composition by appointing women to the board of public companies.

In September, women comprised 30% of new appointments to the boards of public companies. Public companies appointed 82 women to boards and 194 men to their boards. This decrease is unfortunate as certain companies like L’Oreal Group and Accenture have parity on boards and the pressure to increase diversity from the C-Suite to the board level remains.

This means women comprised 45.8% of all new public board appointments! This high mark builds off an average 12-month trend where the average percentage of women appointed to the boards of public companies is 43%.

While only 23 of the newly appointed women Board members (28% of new women appointments) chose to self-disclose their race, we continue to see diversification and continue to highlight the need to disclose. In August, Asian/Pacific Islander women took the lead in board appointments with 16 women being appointed to public boards, making up 19.41% of all appointments. They are closely followed by 7 Black/African American women (8.54%), and 1 Latin / Hispanic women (1.22%). Cardinal Health, Inc., Foot Locker, Inc., and Nike Inc., are some of the companies that appointed this phenomenal group of diverse women to their boards.

Of the 82 women appointed to the boards of public companies, 42, or 51.2%, were first time board appointments. In September, Healthcare companies led the way in the appointment of women followed by Financial Services and Industrial companies; with appointed women filling 14.63% of board seats at healthcare companies and 12.19% appointed to Financial Services. In the Industrial sector, we see strides being made by women at companies like Ziprecruiter, Inc..

Equilar and WBC are tracking and analyzing the growth and rotation of board seats on public companies and the expanding candidate pool. We will continue to track not only the women in terms of numbers, diversity and profile; but the companies and industries in which female board members are present and
how many of the overall board seats are held by women. Please join us in celebrating, tracking, analyzing, and promoting women serving on corporate boards.