Change Comes To The Board Room

Being on the board of directors of a major corporation ain’t what it used to be.

For one, controversy over accounting practices and CEO pay has made it less attractive. Plus, the existence of Sarbanes-Oxley means more work on compliance rather than strategy.

No wonder then that more qualified candidates are turning down recruiter offers for board seats than just five years ago.

What’s more, fewer active CEOs are joining boards, partly because their own companies restrict it, which means more first-time directors.

No surprise then, that there is now a training program for directors, the Stanford Directors' Forum -- and, perhaps, equally unsurprising -- it is a joint offering of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School.

Get the whole story in Mary Thompson’s two-part special report and follow her coverage of the CEO pay debate at the House Financial Services Committee hearing Thursday, March 8.

Board Turnover
Call it a different kind of "shuffleboard" - too little time, too many scandals and lots of new regulations are all helping to recast the players and the role of the corporate board. CNBC's Mary Thompson has more on the changes in corporate America's boardrooms.
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Training Board Members
With new regulations changing the role of a director, many of them are heading back to the classroom to get up-to-speed on the skills and know-how they need in the boardroom. CNBC's Mary Thompson has the story.
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