Long Tenured Directors: Retain or Retire?

Boards are criticized by activist shareholders, proxy advisors and governance experts for being insular. These groups are saying that boards need to have regular refreshment in order to remain independent of management and bring new thinking into the boardroom. As part of the board assessment process directors are asking themselves tough questions.

• Does long tenure equate to being close to management due to familiarity or more independent because these directors have outlasted several CEOs?
• Only 3% of the Fortune 500 have term limits. Should all boards have term limits and if so, what should they be?
• If long tenured directors, no matter how qualified, do not move off the board, how will the board bring in younger talent with new skill sets?
• Not all directors are equal. How can a board retain a long-standing director who is highly valued while asking another director who may have a shorter tenure to retire?
• Some older directors feel the discussion about tenure is a code for age discrimination. How can boards make sure there is not an unconscious bias against long tenured directors who might be older?

Two of our most experienced members, Sandy Moose and Sandi Fenwick, will discuss the issue of managing director succession planning. They will share their opinions on how to handle long tenured directors and the difficult conversations being held in every boardroom. Please bring your experiences to share during the table discussions.

Sandy Moose is now a Senior Advisor of The Boston Consulting Group where she was previously a Senior Managing Partner and Chair of BCG’s East Coast region. She was the first woman ever hired at BCG as a business-strategy consultant. Sandy is the former Lead Director of Verizon Communications and Rohm and Haas Company and served on the board of directors of AES Corporation. She recently retired as Chair of Nataxis Advisors and Loomis Sayles Funds and as Chair of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She has significant governance in the non-profit arena as well and has served in leadership roles on the boards of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Boston Symphony, The Huntington Theater, the Museum of Science, and the Boston Public Library Foundation. Sandy received her PhD and MA in economics from Harvard University and  BA in economics from Wheaton College.

Sandi Fenwick has led Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) for almost 20 years as Chief Operating Officer, President and Chief Executive Officer.  With $2.7 billion in revenues and the largest and most prestigious pediatric research program in the world, BCH is ranked as the leading children’s hospital in the country. Her career has focused on the management of medical delivery, research and academic centers, principally within the Harvard Medical Community. Sandi spent 23 years in progressively senior executive roles at Boston’s Beth Israel (BI) Hospital in operations and corporate business strategy.  She led the merger of BI and the New England Deaconess health systems to form Beth Israel (BI) Deaconess Medical Center and CareGroup, Inc. Sandi is currently on the boards of Controlled Risk Insurance Co, Ltd (Cayman) and Livongo, Inc., the Industry Advisory Board at Flare Capital Partners, and was previously a director of Acusphere.  Sandi has a BS in Biology and Chemistry from Simmons College and an MPH from the University of Texas.

Please RSVP to Pam Lenehan: [email protected] or 781-449-9665