Fortune Modern Board 25

The Modern Board 25 features the most innovative boards of directors among S&P 500 companies. It’s based on the belief that in a rapidly changing business climate, board innovation—and the high performance that comes with it—is predicated on who's in the room. As companies seek to drive change in talent strategy, diversity, sustainability, and social issues, they’ll need more diverse leadership at the very top. But they’ll also need the insight and strength that come with experience. With that in mind, Fortune collaborated with Diligent, a SaaS solution provider across global corporate governance, to develop the ranking—based on criteria that include the expertise, independence, diversity, and tenure of board membership. See our methodology here.

METHODOLOGY

The Top Ten

F5

NEW

F5, a Seattle-based cyber security and application delivery firm, took the top spot in this year’s Modern Board ranking on the strength of its board independence, age dispersion (its youngest director is 45), and performance. CEO François Locoh-Donou sits on the board, but its chair is longtime director Alan Higginson, CEO and chair of Hubspot. Other heavyweight directors include Marie Myers, the chief financial officer of HP Inc.; James Phillips, who once led Microsoft’s Digital Transformation Platform Group and advised Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; Sri Shivananda, chief technology officer of PayPal Holdings; and Peter Klein, who has held the CFO role at WME and Microsoft. Despite a challenging environment, F5 saw revenue rise 11% year over year in the second quarter of 2023, bringing in $703 million in revenue. The company also recently inked a deal with Visa to offer merchants a personalized and secure payment app. But like most of its tech brethren, F5 has conducted mass layoffs. In April, it announced it would cut 9% of its staff globally and offer “generous” severance packages. Locoh-Donou’s CEO bonus was also a victim of the firm’s cost-cutting measures.

Linde

+6 spotsPrev. #8

The U.K.-based industrial gas and engineering company rose from No. 8 in the 2022 Modern Board 25 index to second place this year. Linde—whose ubiquitous products include gases used in manufacturing and across the cold chain—also recently won accolades for its climate efforts, landing a spot in S&P Global’s Sustainability Yearbook for the 20th consecutive year. Linde’s 10-person board includes several international directors and executives with deep expertise in the chemical sector. Last year, the company brought in $33 billion in sales, very little derived from its Russian market. Following the invasion of Ukraine, Linde deconsolidated its Russian operations. It also contributes to international crisis relief agencies.

S&P Global

NEW

A diverse set of high-powered Wall Street players dominate the 13-person board at market information stalwart S&P Global. The New York–based company employs six current or former CEOs as directors, including Douglas Peterson, the company’s chief executive, and the ex-CEOs of Bank of New York Mellon and Accenture. Gay Huey Evans, former chair of the London Metal Exchange, is among S&P Global’s five female directors. Richard Thornburg, the non-executive chair of the board, was formerly the CFO and chief risk officer of Credit Suisse and a non-executive chair of the financial giant. Gregory Washington, president of George Mason University, who has also led research for the NSF, NASA, and Air Force Research Laboratory, rounds out the board’s expertise. He is one of two Black directors, along with Stephanie Hill, executive vice president of rotary and mission systems at Lockheed Martin. In December, S&P Global unveiled a strategic road map for its next growth phase, revealing plans to leverage A.I. and invest in private markets, sustainability, climate, energy transition, credit and risk management, and emerging markets.

Gen Digital

+16 spotsPrev. #20

Gen Digital, previously known as NortonLifeLock, is one of two software companies cracking the top five of the Modern Board 25, perhaps reflecting rising awareness of the need for cyber protection. The board of the Tempe, Ariz.– and Prague, Czech Republic–based firm won high scores for industry performance and diversity of age and nationality. (Its youngest director, age 43, is also the youngest of any among the Modern Board 25.) The board’s chair is Frank Dangeard, a managing partner at Harcourt and former CEO of Thomson S.A. Other high-profile directors include a former CFO of Broadcom, a former chief sales and marketing officer for HPE, a managing partner at Paul Hasting, and a cofounder of Avast, a Gen Digital brand. One board member, Emily Heath, investigated fraud and money laundering crimes as a detective for the Cheshire Police in the U.K. before landing cybersecurity C-suite roles at companies such as United Airlines and DocuSign.

Baker Hughes

+1 spotPrev. #6

Primarily an energy services provider, Baker Hughes is rooted in the fossil fuel business. Still, it sees a pivotal role for its liquefied natural gas and energy transition products in a clean-energy future as companies migrate to electric power and seek greener fuel sources. The firm’s corporate governance charter emphasizes a commitment to sustainability targets, employee engagement, and ethics, the latter value demonstrated in its 2022 decision to sell the company’s Russian properties to a local operator months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Lorenzo Simonelli, a GE veteran who has led Baker Hughes since it merged with GE Oil and Gas in 2017, chairs the board. He works with lead independent director W. Geoffrey Beattie, CEO of private equity firm Generation Capital. Though lean, with just nine directors, the Baker Hughes board is stacked with former CEOs from the energy, natural resources, and industrials sectors, including Lynn Elsenhans, former chair and CEO of Sunoco; Cynthia Carroll, former CEO of Anglo American; and Nelda Connors, former CEO of Atkore International, who now runs the women- and minority-owned investment firm Pine Grove Holdings. The company reported $289 million in profits in the year’s first quarter, beating analyst estimates.

Newmont

+5 spotsPrev. #11

Newmont Corp., the world’s largest gold mining company, has pledged to reach gender parity in leadership roles by 2030 and announced several environmental impact initiatives—although its effort to reduce fresh-water consumption in water-stressed areas by 10% in 2022 fell short. The 12-person board, which has five female directors, is chaired by Gregory Boyce, former CEO of coal company Peabody Energy. Directors have a mix of the operations experience necessary to oversee the manufacturing-intensive mining business, including Julio Quintana, former president and CEO of Tesco Corp., which makes oil drilling equipment; and Emma FitzGerald, former CEO of Puma Energy, an oil company that services emerging markets in Africa, Central America, and Asia. Newmont tapped leaders such as Jane Nelson, a longtime corporate social responsibility advisor for companies like Exxon Mobil and GE, to help it progress on CSR goals, including mining conflict-free gold and increasing the number of local and indigenous employees at its mines. In April, Newmont submitted a reported $19.5 billion bid to buy its competitor Newcrest.

HP

+2 spotsPrev. #9

In 2022, HP was the only tech company to receive A ratings from the Carbon Disclosure Project for its sustainability efforts, including reaching zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and counteracting deforestation for non-HP paper products used in its printers by 2030. HP jumped from No. 9 in the 2022 Modern Board 25 ranking to seven this year. Outgoing Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh has helmed HP’s board since 2017, bringing experience in consumer goods as the tech company doubles down on consumer electronics since its 2015 decoupling from Hewlett Packard’s enterprise tech business. Notable board members include Bruce Broussard, CEO of health care company Humana; Stacy Brown-Philpot, former CEO of TaskRabbit; and Judith Miscik, CEO of geopolitical consulting firm Kissinger Associates and former CIA deputy director of intelligence. After a 2022 net revenue drop of 0.8% year over year, the company announced a cost-cutting plan to save $1.4 billion through 2025, including 6,000 employee layoffs over the next three years. Forty-six percent of HP’s 13-person board (12 of whom are independent) are members of underrepresented groups, and 46% are women.

Robert Half

NEW

Employment services juggernaut Robert Half International makes its debut on the list this year, coming in at No. 8. It saw strong financial performance in 2022, with $7.2 billion in revenue, up 12% year over year, and was named to Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For and World’s Most Admired Companies lists for 2023. Most of the eight directors on the board come from the consulting and professional services sectors. Notable exceptions include Marc Morial, president and CEO of civil rights organization the National Urban League, and Marnie Wilking, chief information security officer of $17.1 billion Booking.com, perhaps an indication of Robert Half’s efforts to integrate diversity and A.I., respectively, into its various consulting practices. Wilking joined the board in August, replacing former director Barbara Novogradac who passed away in March 2022. Wilking is one of two female board members. Earlier this year, Robert Half committed to reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 55% and Scope 3 emissions by 62% by 2032 compared with 2019.

Bristol-Myers Squibb

+14 spotsPrev. #23

Last year, the New York–based Bristol-Myers Squibb tied ESG initiatives to executive compensation in a first for the pharmaceutical company. That effort came after a 2022 initiative to have 25% of clinical trials in diverse communities. CEO Giovanni Caforio chairs the 11-member board, of whom 10 are independent directors. Other directors include Peter Arduini, president and CEO of GE Healthcare, and Paula Price, who most recently served as Macy’s chief financial officer. Deepak Bhatt, director of Mount Sinai Heart, is the latest board appointment, tapped for his extensive cardiovascular research and clinical trial expertise. In June, the board approved the acquisition of cancer drug company Turning Point Therapeutics for $76 a share in a deal totaling $4.1 billion. The firm is still scouting for new M&A deals, Caforio said in its latest earnings call, as the pharma giant tries to offset a sales loss from two drugs that lost patent exclusivity last year. Also in 2022, the company laid off roughly 170 employees due to redundancies from its 2019 acquisition of Celgene. Women and minorities separately make up 36% of the board. Current chief operating officer Christopher Boerner will succeed Caforio when he steps down in November.

Walgreens Boots Alliance

-7 spotsPrev. #3

The parent company of drugstore chain Walgreens fell seven notches from No. 3 in 2022 to No. 10. But it still made the top 10 thanks to its keen ESG focus and gender parity. Women represent five of its 10 board members. Although CEO Rosalind Brewer sits on the board, it's chaired by Stefano Pessina, former CEO of the Illinois-based retail pharmacy company. Board members include IBM’s global chief data officer, Inderpal Bhandari; former president and CEO of Amylin Pharmaceuticals Ginger L. Graham; and the CEO of the Obama Foundation, Valerie Jarrett. For the second quarter of this fiscal year, the company’s sales increased 3.3% year over year to $34.9 billion—although its net earnings dropped to $703 million compared to $883 million the previous year, which it attributed to lower operating income.