Boards Bet on Experience in 2025

Experience is winning the boardroom seat in 2025, with Spencer Stuart’s Board Index revealing that companies are prioritizing veteran leaders over newcomers. The data shows stability and enterprise experience outweigh functional expertise when considering board readiness this year.

Who’s Getting the Seat? Half of S&P 500 boards added at least one new independent director in 2025. But the profile of those appointees skews older and more traditional:

• The average age of new directors is 59.1, up 2% from last year.
  
  
• First-time appointments fell 8%, making up just 31% of all new directors.
  
  
• Next-gen recruits (under 50) dropped to 11%, down from 14%.
  
  
• 59% of new directors are retired, a sharp 22% year-over-year jump.

• The pipeline favors proven leadership. 30% of new directors have CEO experience and 29% come from finance. Of the first-timers, 61% bring both financial and functional expertise.

Technology in Focus: With transformation and innovation the focus for so many, technology backgrounds continue to dominate among new directors.

• A growing number of companies are standing up science and technology committees (18%).

Refreshment or Reinforcement? Turnover is inching down — just 7% this year versus 8% in 2024. Meanwhile, mandatory retirement policies are declining (66%, down from 73% in 2015) and retirement ages are creeping up — most now capped at 72, with the average director age holding steady at 74.

Evaluations & Structure. Only 27% of boards engage an independent third party for evaluations — leaving many reliant on internal feedback loops.

• The separation of chair and CEO roles has plateaued at 61%, while independent board chairs rose slightly to 42%.
  
  
• Boards are also meeting less often — most convene 6–9 times annually, with a growing share meeting five or fewer times (32%, up from 29%).

The Takeaway: Companies are favoring continuity and institutional memory over rapid renewal. While that can enhance governance stability, it may also limit innovation particularly as technology and social pressures reshape business models.