The War for Talent in Banking Is Here to Stay

Written by

It seems that everywhere in the banking world these days, people want to talk about the war for talent. It’s been the subject of many recent presentations at industry conferences and a regular topic of conversation at nearly every roundtable discussion. It’s called many things — the Great Resignation, the Great Reshuffling, quiet quitters or the Great Realignment — but it all comes down to talent management.

There are a number of reasons why this challenge has landed squarely on the shoulders of banks and organizations across the country. In the U.S., the workforce is now primarily comprised of members of Generation X and millennials, cohorts that are smaller than the baby boomers that preceded them. And while the rising Gen Z workforce will eventually be larger, its members have only recently begun graduating from college and entering the workforce.

Even outside of the pandemic disruptions the economy and banking industry has weathered, it is easy to forget that the unemployment rate in this country was 3.5% in December 2019, shortly before the pandemic shutdowns. This was an unprecedented modern era low, which the economy has once again returned to in recent months. Helping to keep this rate in check is a labor force participation rate that remains below historical norms. Add it all up and the demographic trends do not favor employers for the foreseeable future.

It is also well known that most banks have phased out training programs, which now mostly exist in very large banks or stealthily in select community institutions. One of the factors that may motivate a smaller community bank to sell is their inability to locate, attract or competitively compensate the talented bankers needed to ensure continued survival. With these industry headwinds, how should a bank’s board and CEO respond? Some thoughts:

  • Banks must adapt and offer more competitive compensation, whether this is the base hourly rate needed to compete in competition with Amazon.com and Walmart for entry-level workers, or six-figure salaries for commercial lenders. Bank management teams need to come to terms with the competitive pressures that make it more expensive to attract and retain employees, particularly those in revenue-generating roles. Saving a few thousand dollars by hiring a B-player who does not drive an annuity revenue stream is not a long-term strategy for growing earning assets.
  • There has been plentiful discourse supporting the concept that younger workers need to experience engagement and “feel the love” from their institution. They see a clear career path to stick with the bank. Yet most community institutions lack a strategic human resource leader or talent development team that can focus on building a plan for high potential and high-demand employees. Bank can elevate their HR team or partner with an outside resource to manage this need; failing to demonstrate a true commitment to the assertion that “our people are our most important asset” may, over time, erode the retention of your most important people.
  • Many community banks lack robust incentive compensation programs or long-term retention plans. Tying key players’ performance and retention to long-term financial incentives increases the odds that they will feel valued and remain — or at least make it cost-prohibitive for a rival bank to steal your talent.
  • Lastly, every banker says “our culture is unique.” While this may be true, many community banks can do a better job of communicating that story. Use the home page of your website to amplify successful employee growth stories, rather than just your mortgage or CD rates. Focus on what resonates with next generation workers: Your bank is a technology business that gives back to its communities and cares deeply about its customers. Survey employees to see what benefits matter most to them: perhaps a student loan repayment program or pet insurance will resonate more with some workers than your 401(k) match will.

The underlying economic and demographic trend lines that banks are experiencing are unlikely to shift significantly in the near term, barring another catastrophic event. Given the human capital climate, executives and boards should take a hard look at the bank’s employment brand, talent development initiatives and compensation structures. A strategic reevaluation and fresh look at how you are approaching the talent wars will likely be an investment that pays off in the future.

One Strategy to Improve Board Performance

Written by


performance-4-19-19.pngDoes greater diversity improve the performance of corporate boards, or is it just an exercise in political correctness?

Cognitive diversity—also called diversity of thought—has particular relevance to bank boards of directors, which are overwhelmingly made up of older white men with general business backgrounds.

This is not an indictment against older white men per se, but rather a recognition that a group of people with similar backgrounds and experiences are more likely to think alike than not. The same could be said about other homogenous social groups. For example, a team of older Latinas or younger black men might also be subject to groupthink.

“We’re only going to get the right outcomes if we have the right people around the table,” says Jayne Juvan, a partner at Tucker Ellis who is vice chair of the American Bar Association’s corporate governance committee and frequently advises corporate boards on governance matters.

It would be a mistake to dismiss board diversity as a political issue pushed by feminists, LGBT advocates and progressive Democrats. Even some of the world’s largest institutional investors think it’s a good idea.

In his annual letter to chief executive officers in 2018, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said the investment company would “continue to emphasize the importance of a diverse board” at companies BlackRock invests in. These companies are “less likely to succumb to groupthink or miss threats to a company’s business model,” he wrote. “And they are better able to identify opportunities that provide long-term growth.”

State Street Global Advisors, another big institutional investor, announced in September of last year that it will update its voting guidelines in 2020 for firms that have no women on their boards and have failed to engage in “successful dialogue on State Street Global Advisor’s board diversity program for three consecutive years.”

As part of the new guidelines, State Street will vote against the entire slate of board members on the nominating committee of any public U.S. company that does not have at least one woman on its board.

There is, in fact, a strong business case for cognitive diversity. Studies show that diverse groups or teams make better decisions than homogenous ones.

Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity of their executive teams were 21 percent more likely to experience above-average profitability than companies in the bottom quartile, according to a 2017 study by McKinsey & Co. The study also found that companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity were 33 percent more likely to outperform companies in the bottom quartile. Both findings were statistically significant.

“On the complex tasks we now carry out in laboratories, boardrooms, courtrooms, and classrooms, we need people who think in different ways,” wrote University of Michigan professor Scott Page in his book “The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Pay Off in the Knowledge Economy.”

“And not in arbitrarily diverse ways,” he continued. “Effective diverse teams are built with forethought.”

Page differentiates cognitive diversity from “identity” diversity, which is defined by demographic characteristics like race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and national origin. But striving for identity diversity, through characteristics such as race and gender, and the different life experiences and perspectives that result, can help boards and organizations cultivate cognitive diversity.

Yet, Juvan says boards also need to gain insight into how potential directors think and process information, which they can do by appointing them to advisory boards or working with them in other capacities. Banks that have separate boards for their depository subsidiaries, for instance, could use those as a farm system to evaluate candidates for the holding company board.

“I think it’s about creating a pipeline of candidates well in advance of the time that you actually need them, and really getting to know those candidates in a deeper way … as opposed to thinking a year out that we’re going to have an opening and … [working] with a recruiting firm,” she says. “I don’t think it’s something that, even if you work with a recruiting firm, you should fully outsource to somebody else.”

A Long-Term Care Plan Can Attract Top Talent

Written by


retention-7-13-18.pngOne of the biggest threats to retirement assets is the out-of-pocket cost of long-term care (LTC). While 51 percent of people see LTC as a financial concern and 70 percent of Americans 65 or older will need LTC assistance at some point in their lives, only about 8 percent of people of buying age and income own LTC insurance (LTCI), according to recent surveys and government data. Why is there such a disconnect, what can employers do to help solve the problem, and how does LTCI provide one more way to attract and retain top talent?

LTC is a growing concern because of escalating costs and because people are living longer. As they age, people become more likely to need help with two or more of their routine daily activities, such as dressing, eating, bathing, walking, toileting or getting in and out of a chair or bed. The need is more likely to impact women than men due to their longer life spans. But it is important to note that LTC is not just for the elderly: 40 percent of those receiving LTC services are between the ages of 18 and 64, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Despite the need, most people do not purchase LTCI for a variety of reasons, including cost, belief they will not need LTC services, uncertainty about when to purchase a policy, and lack of complete information provided to them. People usually become more motivated to seek coverage after a family member needs a nursing home or other LTC assistance and they become aware of the high costs ( average of $91,000 in 2015, according to a 2017 study by Genworth). Or, employees become more motivated after they have a medical issue that creates a concern. However once a significant medical issue occurs, it may become more difficult or very expensive to obtain coverage. Employer-provided health and disability insurance policies do not cover LTC costs.

Employers can help significantly by doing some of the vetting of LTC carriers and products and making them available on a voluntary, employer-paid, or employer-subsidized basis. Studies by LIMRA, an industry research firm, show that 59 percent of employees prefer buying insurance at their workplace. An employer-sponsored program can be offered to all employees as well as their family members. Spousal and marital discounts may apply and the policies are generally 100 percent portable, meaning the employee can choose to take over premium payments and retain the LTCI upon separation from the employer.

If the employer pays for the coverage for 10 or more qualifying employees (possibly as a perk for key employees), the program may qualify for certain additional advantages, including simplified underwriting, which typically results in 90 to 95 percent approval, a standard health class for all approved applicants, a unisex rate structure and reduced premiums. Furthermore, the bank has the option of purchasing bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) to offset and recover any expenses it incurs in providing LTC benefits.

Current tax rules encourage the purchase of LTCI, with the largest tax benefits afforded to employer-provided policies. Generally, employer-paid premiums are deductible to the employer while being excluded from the employee’s taxable income. In addition, the employee is not taxed on LTC benefits received, up to certain limits.

As co-author of this article and someone with two parents who needed nursing home care, I (David Shoemaker) can attest to the value of LTCI and am grateful my parents purchased it while they were young. LTCI allowed for better care for them and kept their retirement assets mostly intact.

By offering LTCI, the bank can fill a need in its benefits portfolio, making it easier to attract and retain top talent.

How to Recruit Younger Directors

Written by


recruirment-6-22-18.pngA stagnant board is an ineffective one. While some directors can serve long tenures and continue to be actively engaged in the affairs of the bank, some directors grow less effective. What’s more, a board composed of directors who have served together for a number of years, or even decades, can grow complacent in their approach to bank strategy and oversight. This isn’t in the best interest of shareholders, employees or customers.

So how can boards fight complacency? Bring on some new blood. “That’s the attraction of bringing a young person in,” says Ben Wynd, a 40-year-old director at Franklin Financial Network, a $4.1 billion asset bank holding company headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee. He joined the board in 2015 and is an accountant with public company reporting expertise. “I have a desire to grow my practice. I have a desire to grow and become successful individually. I have energy, and I ask a lot of questions.”

It is rare for a bank to bring on a director aged 40 or younger as Franklin Financial has done. The 2018 Compensation Survey, conducted in March and April, finds that a whopping 84 percent report their board lacks any directors in this age group.

But boards like that of Franklin Financial, as well as $1.8 billion asset ESSA Bancorp in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and $2.4 billion asset Sierra Bancorp in Porterville, California, are finding a way to attract young professionals to their board. Here’s how.

Actively seek prospective younger directors.
Your board can’t count on a skilled, young professional just falling out of the sky, so at least one director on the board should be advocating for the addition of younger perspectives and identifying potential board members. The more directors serving as advocates, the better.

Wynd says Paul Pratt Jr., a director who served on the Franklin Financial board since its 2007 founding, was just that sort of advocate. (Pratt’s term expired in 2018, but he continues to serve on the bank board.) “Any time I see a great talented young person, I try to engage them” and understand their goals, Pratt says. “There’s a lot of supreme young talent out there that needs to be on bank boards helping make critical decisions on how the bank grows.”

Board members can also leverage friends and family to identify prospective board members.

“A member of the board lived in my community and is friendly with my parents,” says Christine Gordon, 42, a director at ESSA since 2016, who has a background as a lawyer and experience as the deputy chief compliance officer at Olympus Corp. of the Americas, as well as deep connections in the community. “He approached me and asked whether I’d be interested in joining the board and talked to me a bit about what it would entail.”

Similarly, Vonn Christenson, a 38-year-old attorney who was appointed to Sierra Bancorp’s board in 2016, says he was approached by a Sierra director who was his parents’ friend and neighbor. “The bank had been expanding, had been acquiring other banks and was looking to expand more. Their board members were aging, so they were looking to add some members.”

Communicate the benefits of serving on a bank board.
Prospective younger directors with the skill sets that bank boards need are in demand, and not just within the banking industry. “In all honesty, I probably have more opportunities [to serve on boards] than I have time and than my wife is willing to allow me to, so I’ve had to be selective in what I am involved in,” says Christenson. Make sure that the busy young professionals you seek as board members understand the benefits of serving on the board, as well as the bank’s growth trajectory.

And as much as long-term bank directors say that serving on a board is not about the money—just 14 percent of survey respondents indicate that offering a competitive director compensation package is a top challenge relative to their board’s composition—it could be the factor that leads an in-demand professional to pick your board over another.

Christenson says he had the opportunity to serve on the board of a local hospital but turned it down in favor of the bank. The bank “is a local success story in many ways, so there’s some more prestige that goes with it,” he says. Christenson also knew more members of the bank’s board, and “there’s compensation on the bank board, whereas it was voluntary on the hospital board.”

Ease the time burden.
Juggling the professional demands of younger directors may necessitate rethinking how the board approaches meetings. Gordon has found web conferencing to be effective in allowing her to participate in ESSA’s board meetings when she’s traveling for work. And using technology like a board portal can help streamline board materials, making them easier to digest. “They’ve got a real nice platform to produce materials and keep them organized for future reference,” says Gordon. The board provided tablets to directors, so they can easily access the board portal.

Invest in creating a successful board.
New directors, particularly younger ones, won’t be up to speed about the issues facing the banking industry, or even the fundamentals. “Educating new board members is very important. You join a bank board where folks have been there for years and years,” says Gordon. “I’ve been a board director for a couple of years, and I’m still learning.”

New directors should also meet with key members of the executive team, as well as one-on-one with board members. At ESSA, the management team teaches new directors about the bank and its primary areas of focus, says Gordon. The board also brings in speakers about specific topics, which can be vital to director education for old and new board members.

Investing in external training can be beneficial as well. But also expect to field a lot of questions from engaged new directors. And remember, those questions can benefit the board as a whole by leading if they lead to an examination of the bank’s practices and strategy. That’s the benefit of a fresh perspective, after all.

Ensure there’s a process to make room for new board members.
Age diversity goes both ways—the board benefits from the views of young professionals as well as older, established directors who better understand the banking industry and have a historic perspective of their markets.

Establishing a mandatory retirement age can help cycle ineffective directors off the board, but some banks are uncomfortable with the possibility of losing engaged older directors. Providing exceptions for particularly skilled and effective board members, coupled with a mandatory retirement age, can be effective, as can term limits for banks uncomfortable with designating an age cap.

Conducting a board evaluation with individual director assessments and using a board matrix to identify knowledge gaps can be useful tools to create space on the board regardless of age. To be effective, a strong governance chair or similar director should be empowered to have conversations with board members who aren’t pulling their weight.

In the survey, 44 percent of respondents reveal concern about recruiting tech-savvy directors. While youth is no substitute for technology expertise, and technology expertise isn’t limited to the young, it’s important to remember that younger directors are more likely to have an intuitive handle on technology trends, particularly as relates to the bank’s retail and commercial customers.

But youth isn’t synonymous with engagement. New directors should “bring a vision and new ideas to help bring the bank into the future,” says Christenson.

Bank Director’s 2018 Compensation Survey was sponsored by Compensation Advisors, a member of Meyer-Chatfield Group. Click here to view the full results to the survey.

The Resurging Interest in Bank Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans

Written by


SERP-4-6-17.pngThe roller coaster ride in banking over the last eight to 10 years took another unexpected turn in November with the election results. The financial sector gained new life, bank stocks soared and community banks began to see the prospect of regulatory relief becoming a reality. Interest in de novo banks has been picking up, and the likelihood of interest rate increases and decent loan demand appear to bode well for banks.

With that as a backdrop, the need to retain key members of a bank’s management team has re-emerged. Loan demand is good, profits are rising, optimism regarding regulatory relief is growing and the need to stabilize the management team of the bank is on the front burner as the talent grab has begun to heat up. Comprehensive compensation plans that serve to retain, reward and appropriately retire management teams are back in the spotlight.

During the financial crisis, many banks maintained salaries, as well as short and long-term incentive plans. Qualified benefit plans were continued, though often temporarily curtailed. But one key element of retention and reward, non-qualified plans, were either terminated, frozen or not introduced at all. Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans, or SERPs, are some of the most common non-qualified plans. Since the financial crisis, SERPs have lately seen a resurgence due to their multi-faceted benefit to both the bank and executive.

Objectives of a SERP

  1. Retirement: Since inception, SERPs were designed to allow the company to provide supplemental benefits to executives whose contributions to traditional qualified plans such as 401ks and profit sharing plans were limited by the Internal Revenue Service or ERISA (The Employment Retirement Income Security Act). For example, the general employee base may be able to retire with 75 to 80 percent of final salary based on income from Social Security and qualified plans while the executive team was retiring at 35 to 45 percent from the same sources. In essence, those executives were discriminated against due to the ERISA and IRS caps. SERPs bridged the gap and allowed for the bank to provide commensurate benefits to key executives.
  2. Retention: SERPs are non-qualified plans. They do not have the restrictions of qualified plans regarding vesting terms. As a result, the bank can structure the terms in the SERP however they desire from a vesting perspective. For example, assume an executive is to receive $60,000 per year for 15 years in a SERP. If in year five, the executive gets an offer from another bank, depending on the plan vesting, the executive may be walking away from all, or a large portion, of their SERP benefit. That’s $900,000 in post-retirement income at risk. This deterrent becomes a “golden handcuff.”
  3. Reward: Banks can use SERPs whose value are determined based on performance measures. There may be a return on equity or return on assets threshold needed to get a minimum percentage of final salary from the SERP. That percentage would grow based on performance measures established in the plan.
  4. Recruiting: SERPs provide the bank a plan that attracts talent. If the target executive is working at an institution that does not provide SERPs, the plan becomes an added attraction to joining your organization.

Other Items of Consideration

Unfunded, unsecured promise to pay: It is important to note that non-qualified plans such as SERPs are balance sheet obligations of the company and must be accrued for under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The plan is an unfunded promise to pay by the bank. As a result, if the bank were to fail, the executive would lose his or her benefit. The SERP benefit is often matched up with bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) to provide income to offset the SERP accrual. This is not a formal funding of the plan, but a cost offset.

Top-hat guidelines: Executives participating in a non-qualified plan must qualify under top-hat guidelines as provided under the Department of Labor. These guidelines are murky, and consider position in the organization, compensation, negotiating ability (with the bank) and number of participants as a percentage of full-time equivalents. If there is any concern about who can participate, it is best to have legal counsel review prior to implementation.

In summary, SERPs are back in favor. The practical need for equitable retirement benefits, as well as the ability to retain, reward and recruit all have been catalysts in the resurgence of SERPs in the banking marketplace.

Equias Alliance offers securities through ProEquities, Inc. member FINRA & SIPC. Equias Alliance is independent of ProEquities, Inc.

Who Should Be On Your Board

Written by


Crist-DC-WhitePaper.pngOverview

The principals in our firm have completed over five hundred board projects, in our experience the answer to who should sit on your board is, in every case… it depends. Every search is unique.

Who Should Be On Your Board – Determine Your Needs

There are a myriad of factors that determine who should serve on your board. The composition and culture of your current board are important factors. Similarly, the nature of your company is a variable in determining who should serve on your board:

  • Size
  • Sector
  • Industry
  • Customer Base
  • Financial Strength
  • Corporate Evolution
  • Geographic Footprint

Your current board of directors, in some of its composition, is reflective of what the company was, or aspired to be, in years past. Your company’s profile is just a snapshot of what the company is today. Therefore, importantly, where is the company headed? What are the most important objectives to be achieved? In other words, what is your corporate strategy? The answers to these questions need to be understood in determining who will be the most valuable director(s) for your board. The person or people who should serve on your board are born from your strategy.

When you overlay your corporate strategy with an assessment of the toolkits of each director on your board and consider your company’s profile, you can create a matrix. The matrix illustrates the competencies you need to acquire to enable your board to guide your company toward its strategic goals. Add to this sensitivity to the board’s culture and you will see who should be on your board.

Board-Matrix.jpg

Who Should Be On Your Board – Universal Elements

Every company’s board competency matrix will be different, but there are a few common components that are found on most well-built boards:

  • Diversity: This is stating the obvious, but a variety of perspectives is an important component for all boards.
  • Operators: Among the members of every board should be one or two current CEOs or COOs, who will provide the board with an operator’s perspective and often act as a sounding board to the company’s CEO.
  • Financial Acumen: This is a broad skill set, ranging from accounting and audit skills to treasury, financing, and M&A experience. We have not worked with a client yet who has said, “We have too many board members with financial savvy.”
  • Industry Knowledge: An independent director with deep experience in the company’s industry will augment management’s expertise, can serve to educate other directors on the industry, and can provide an informed board level evaluation of industry specific items.
  • Customer Knowledge: Board members with significant knowledge of major customer categories provide valuable insight in board discussions.
  • Regulatory / Compliance: Knowledge of regulatory issues facing a company may be critical. The same holds true for risk.
  • Technology: Every business relies on technology. Having a director who can evaluate the impact of technology on the company, make strategic recommendations and communicate effectively with other members is always valuable.
  • International: This may not apply to all companies, but to those it does, it is a major concern. Boards are clamoring for directors who not only have a global perspective, but boots-on-the-ground international experience running a business, particularly in the BRIC countries.
  • Committee Composition: Members should have relevant domain knowledge. (e.g. People on the compensation or audit committee have to understand the material).

Who Should Be On Your Board – Personality Traits of Great Directors

The depth of experience, level of success, and amount of talent a director has is irrelevant if it cannot be effectively utilized. Individuals should be intellectually and emotionally strong enough to actively participate and offer positive critical review, yet modest and mature enough to recognize their appropriate role as a board member and the need for partnership with their fellow board members and company management. They should be analytical and able to constructively evaluate a strategy, acquisition, and business plan. The candidate should be forward thinking and strategic, yet pragmatic and operationally savvy, with a passion for building true shareholder value. The personality/chemistry must be a fit. Honesty, openness, and high ethical standards are mandatory. It is important that a potential board member be prepared to be an active and engaged director, and willing to make a long-term commitment to the company.

Who Should Be On Your Board – Get The Leadership Right

Roles on the board are not created equal. There are four leadership roles that every board must have: non-executive chair / lead director, audit committee chair, compensation committee chair, and nominating & governance committee chair. Get these roles right and it will translate directly into shareholder value.

1) Non-Executive Chairman / Lead Director

Shareholders have always entrusted the board to carry out its fiduciary responsibilities, but in our contemporary business environment, regardless of the title given to the role (non-executive chair, lead director, presiding director…), it is essential for effective corporate governance that the board of directors have a non-management director as the recognized leader of the board, not the CEO. Dividing the duties of the leader of the company (the CEO) and the leader of the board acknowledges the new and increased responsibilities of both positions. It also creates checks and balances between management and the board, and is meant to be a deliberate expression of independence to shareholders and the market.

The clearest distinction between the two roles is, simply, the non-executive chairman / lead director runs the board, not the company (that is the domain of the CEO). In running the board, the non-executive chairman / lead director has a wide range of responsibilities, which can vary from company to company, but in almost all cases he/she:

  • presides at all meetings of the board and the shareholders, ensuring that all issues on the agenda are efficiently attended to and that each director contributes to their full potential.
  • establishes, in consultation with the CEO, an agenda for each meeting of the board.
  • leads a critical evaluation of the board as well as of management, its practices and its adherence to the board-approved strategic plan and its objectives.
  • facilitates an open flow of information between management and the Board.

The non-executive chairman / lead director role is a delicate role requiring a respected executive with broad business acumen, who is a strong communicator with evident interpersonal skills, and someone who has refined leadership ability (capable of focusing the board and building consensus). This role is not for someone who has an ambition to run the company. Non-executive chairman / lead directors should be complementary and compatible with the CEO (not seen as a rival); if their chemistry is poor, the function of the board suffers and ultimately, so does the company. Optimal candidates are capable of facilitating positive dialog on diverse subjects, and act as a buffer on behalf of the CEO and senior management, so that the board is not intrusive. The non-executive chairman / lead directors must have ethical standards beyond reproach, a passion for the role, and must take personal pride in the level of quality in the boardroom.

2) Audit Committee Chairman

Given the heavy responsibility and continued intense spotlight on the audit committee, this is a key role to fill for the success of the board and the company. An outstanding audit committee chair instills a greater sense of confidence in the company at the board, management, and investor levels, and likely individually impacts shareholder value. This role requires an extremely well qualified financial expert, preferably with independent director experience and the time to commit to this role. Optimal candidates would typically be retired executives who have been CEOs (with strong financial skills), public company CFOs, or broadly experienced audit partners.

3) Compensation Committee Chairman

The intense examination of executive compensation has also thrust compensation committees into the spotlight and has made its chairmanship a very important responsibility. This role requires a background with executive compensation matters and current knowledge of compensation issues and trends. Preferably, this person would also have prior public company board experience. Optimal candidates for this role would typically be a long-tenured CEO, an experienced compensation committee member, or another executive with significant executive compensation experience (e.g.: chief human resources officer).

4) Nominating / Governance Committee Chairman

Charged with leading the committee responsible for shaping the company’s corporate governance, evaluating the performance of the board and its directors, and recommending new directors for the board, the nominating/governance committee chairman is a critical role in today’s climate. Directors in this role need to have a deep knowledge of corporate governance and be committed to keeping up with its trends and best practices.

Who Should Be On Your Board

There are common components of all well-built boards, beginning with getting the leadership roles filled correctly. But who should be on your board is truly unique to each company. Through an assessment of the competencies on your current board, along with your company’s profile, viewed in comparison to the vision of your company going forward, and an appreciation of your board’s culture, a clear picture should emerge.