Board Accountability in the Current Governance Landscape

Investors seeking change at their portfolio companies are increasingly willing to hold individual directors personally accountable through the ballot box. To help mitigate the risk of opposition to the election of individual directors, boards must be more transparent and more willing to communicate with shareholders about how they set priorities, mediate conflicts, and link policies to business strategy and performance. To do so, the board and management must be committed to a governance program that integrates business and governance goals, educates and informs directors, opens a window into the boardroom, and creates opportunities to communicate with internal and external constituencies.