Across the Board
McKinsey Aims to Rebuild Trust Through Better Governance
After years of controversy, McKinsey is reshaping its board structure to enhance independence, accountability, and long-term oversight
“McKinsey is shaking up its board and appointing a new chair from within its partner ranks, the latest in a yearslong effort to change how it is managed after several scandals involving past clients. The elite consulting giant named Andrew Pickersgill, a senior partner in Toronto, to take on the board chair role as of Wednesday. Until now, McKinsey’s global managing partner has held the position while leading day-to-day operations at the same time. Though the new chair and other board members all hail from within McKinsey, the new structure is meant to establish more independence between the firm’s board and management, McKinsey leaders said. It is also intended to prevent the kind of controversies sparked by previous work with some clients, including opioid manufacturers and work in countries such as China and Saudi Arabia. Its mandate includes challenging McKinsey’s leaders and asking big-picture questions on the direction of the company, especially in the era of artificial intelligence, Pickersgill said.” WALL STREET JOURNAL
At Lululemon, a Proxy Fight Ends and the Real Work Begins
With a board settlement in place, the athleisure company shifts its focus from governance battles to rebuilding growth
“Lululemon shareholders have elected three management-backed directors, including former Levi Strauss chief Chip Bergh, cementing the settlement of a bruising proxy battle with its founder and paving the way for the incoming CEO to focus on reviving the athleisure brand. The company also disclosed on Friday that two of founder Chip Wilson's nominees, Marc Maurer and Laura Gentile, have been appointed as independent directors, taking the board strength to 11… A third mutually agreed director will join by October 1, as part of the truce struck last month... Thursday's closed-door vote installed Bergh alongside Unilever marketing executive Esi Eggleston Bracey and veteran finance leader Teri List, bolstering the board with directors experienced in brand-building and corporate governance as the Vancouver-based company prepares for a broader reset…” REUTERS
Comcast Says It’s Breaking Up to Build Value
The decision to separate from NBCUniversal underscores the growing pressure on boards to simplify portfolios and unlock shareholder value
“Comcast said on Monday that it planned to split off NBCUniversal into a separate publicly traded company, unwinding a 15-year corporate marriage that put celebrated films and TV shows like ‘Saturday Night Live’ under the same roof as cable hookups and wireless internet service. The deal is part of a trend in the media industry of separating faster-growing internet services from traditional TV…. Comcast’s chairman, Brian Roberts, will be involved in the leadership of both companies after the deal, which is expected to be completed in a year. Monday’s announcement sent a shock wave through the media industry and raised questions about the future of both Comcast and NBCUniversal…. NBCUniversal will include the Universal Studios theme parks and Sky, the European media and telecommunications company…. Roberts said he would not prioritize putting NBCUniversal or Comcast up for sale and instead aimed to grow each business over time. But analyst speculation immediately turned to potential merger partners for Comcast…. A merger of NBCUniversal and one of its rivals in the media industry would be more complicated, since there are strict rules about the ownership of broadcast networks.…" NEW YORK TIMES
Who Owns Board Oversight of AI?
The answer isn't a committee, but how the board defines AI's role in the business
“In all too many boardrooms today, a single question stops the conversation cold: who owns AI? Not because directors don’t care, but because the answer is both unsettled and constantly shifting. AI oversight is less about organizational charts than how the board regards AI. If it is viewed primarily as a risk, oversight typically falls to Audit. If it is seen as a technology capability, it belongs with the Technology Committee. If it is a strategic enterprise asset, it belongs with the full board. Industry also matters in this calculus. AI-native companies often establish dedicated AI or Technology Committees because AI is core to their business. For companies using AI to enhance existing products or operations, oversight is more commonly assigned to an existing board committee based on the company’s primary risks…. There is no universal home, only a fit for context.... The better question, then, is not: Which committee should oversee AI? It is: What does the board believe AI represents for this organization?" SUBSTACK
Investors in Public Companies Losing Voting Rights
SpaceX's public debut reignites the debate over dual-class share structures and the balance between founder control and accountability to shareholders
“One share, one vote. It’s a longstanding principle of investing in a publicly traded company that means that the number of shares an investor owns is equal to the number of votes he or she can cast on critical issues like mergers and acquisitions, board appointments and executive pay. SpaceX’s entry in the stock market is the latest challenge to this principle, swelling the ranks of large and influential public companies that give shareholders little say in how they are run. This month, SpaceX listed its shares on the Nasdaq with two tiers of stock: A-class shares, which are available to the public and carry one vote and B-class shares, which carry 10 times the voting power and are held by its founder and chief executive Elon Musk, and a small group of insiders. The arrangement means that even after Mr. Musk’s company sold more than $85 billion in shares in its record-setting initial public offering, he still maintains control. It echoes similar moves by other founder-led technology behemoths like Alphabet… and Meta…. The sheer size of these companies means that these voting structures now carry enormous sway in the stock indexes used to benchmark millions of Americans’ retirement savings…..” NEW YORK TIMES
The Diversity Plateau
As the next generation of tech giants prepares to go public, board composition is once again under the investor spotlight
“Big technology IPOs are capturing attention, especially SpaceX’s recent public debut and anticipated offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI. Beyond their enormous valuations, these companies share another common feature—each has no more than two women on its board of directors…. When a startup is private, questions about gender representation often stay inside the company or among a small set of investors. But going public can change who is looking at a company and can create new scrutiny from a broader audience. In the past, that scrutiny often focused on the complete absence of women on corporate boards…. A decade ago, many assumed the push for board diversity would continue until leadership better reflected the broader population. It hasn’t. The next generation of technology giants is entering the public markets amid growing backlash against diversity initiatives….” FORBES
Women-Led Companies Create More Opportunities for Women
New research suggests companies led by women are more likely to have gender-balanced boards and executive teams, even as overall progress stalls
“When women are CEOs, the companies they lead are significantly more likely than companies led by men to name women to boards and senior leadership positions, according to the 2026 Corporate Women Directors International Report. Nearly 40% of organizations with women CEOs also had women on their boards of directors, compared to the global average of nearly 30%. Meanwhile, at companies where a woman succeeded a man as CEO, the gender diversity on boards increased from an average of roughly 35% to about 56%. In addition to board diversification, nearly 37% of firms with women leaders have women executive officers, whereas the global average for women in C-suite positions is just 21%.” HR DIVE
Non-Profit Boards Benefit When They Recruit from Outside of Their Networks
Four ways organizations can bring on new board members who can expand expertise and fundraising potential
“Nonprofit boards of directors frequently struggle to recruit more diverse, younger members. This can leave them lacking needed expertise and broader perspectives. Ways to improve the recruitment and selection process for new board members include identifying gaps in your board’s capabilities, resisting the urge to simply appoint donors, making new board recruits feel welcome and invested, and building a pipeline in advance of board vacancies.” KELLOGG INSIGHT
