Leadership
Damage Control: Dealing with the Great Board Exodus
Nearly four times as many board directors stepped down last year as in 2024. But smart boards are taking steps to shore up their stability.
February 23, 2026
How Smart Boards Are Minimizing Director Quits
Two directors stepped down after nearly two decades of service. Another was tapped to become CEO of a larger firm. Yet another became a CFO at a company in a different industry. And this was just one organization’s board last year.
While many people these days are holding tight to their jobs, one group isn’t: the leaders who oversee leaders. Last year, 391 directors left—nearly four times as many as in 2024, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission data. In part, this can be attributed to directors hitting mandatory retirement ages or the many recent M&A deals requiring new, merged boards to prune overlapping skills. At the same time, there’s a laser focus on how directors themselves are performing—both now and in the future. “High-performing boards are very conscientious about thinking further out,” says Jane Edison Stevenson, global vice chair of Korn Ferry’s Board and CEO Services practice. “They’re looking to create long-term leadership continuity.”
The record number of exits comes as boards scramble to figure out how best to approach AI governance and an increasing number of national security issues. Much of the board exodus happened at larger companies, including 300 at S&P 500 companies. In the current environment of economic instability, geopolitical volatility, and increased investor scrutiny, some directors are realizing they don’t want to deal with “a continuous diet of stress and uncertainty,” notes Anthony Goodman, head of the Board Effectiveness practice at Korn Ferry.
All of this has caused some serious re-thinking at boards. Many are reexamining their firms’ handling of a critical group: activist investors, who launched a record 255 campaigns in 2025 and won 120 board seats globally, according to Barclays. But both activists and smart boards have been pushing hard to improve independent director quality; last year, 60% of board appointees had prior public company board experience, a five-year high.
Some boards are getting ahead of the departures by scrutinizing their own performance and functioning via 360 reviews and third-party evaluations. According to Korn Ferry’s annual report on board evaluations, 55% of companies in the S&P 500 assessed individual directors as part of their board evaluation process, up from 50% in 2024. What’s more, 38% of organizations used a third-party facilitator, the highest level in five years. “More companies are using evaluations as a strategic tool for driving improvement,” Goodman says.
For directors looking to fill the rash of vacancies, experts point out that successful boards today operate more like jazz ensembles than classical quartets: Each member brings a distinct instrument, but everyone can improvise when needed. “Building a board today is like putting together a tapestry,” says Tierney Remick, co-leader of Korn Ferry’s Board and CEO Services practice. “It’s intricate and complex.”
One thing worth remembering: Sometimes the best director candidates on paper aren’t necessarily the right fit for the organization’s needs in an uncertain environment. “The things people are looking for intrinsically aren’t necessarily captured in experience,” says Sarah Oliva, a principal in Korn Ferry’s Board Effectiveness practice.
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