LEAP Board Representation Research Reports

2011 API Representation on Fortune 500 Boards

LEAP’s 2011 API Representation on Fortune 500 Boards marks the fifth report in the series and the third edition of research focusing on the private sector. 

According to LEAP’s report, only 116 APIs held 135 board seats in the Fortune 500 in 2010. APIs make up 6% of the total U.S. population and their purchasing power is anticipated to grow. 

Key Findings

Fortune 500
2011

  • Only 111 companies have API directors on their boards.

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    In other words, 77.8 percent of Fortune 500 companies have no API representation on their boards.

  • In 2011, 116 APIs held 135 board seats in the Fortune 500.

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    This is an increase from 96 and 115, respectively from 2010.

  • The 135 board seats represent 2.43 percent of the total number of seats in the Fortune 500.

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    This is a 17 percent increase from 2010.

  • Eighteen API directors serve as president, (vice) chair and/or chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 company.

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    Of those, three are women.

  • Out of the 116 API directors, 23 (19.8 percent) are women.

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    The ethnic breakdown of these API directors is as follows: Chinese (45), Asian Indian (37), Japanese (17), Korean (6), Pakistani (3), Vietnamese (3), Bangladeshi (1), Filipino (1), Malaysian (1), Singaporean (1) and Sri Lankan (1).

  • Fifteen API directors sit on more than one Fortune 500 board.

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    Of those, four sit on three Fortune boards accounting for twelve seats: Victor J. Dzau, Rakesh Gangwal, Andrea Jung and Arun Sarin.

  • Twenty-one Fortune 500 companies have two API directors on their boards.

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    Companies include Hewlett-Packard, Wells Fargo, PepsiCo, Best Buy, Safeway, Cisco Systems, Morgan Stanley, Staples, Aramark, Edison International, Avon Products, Synnex, OfficeMax, AECOM Technology, Yahoo, Mattel, Targa Resources, Agilent Technologies, SunGard Data Systems, SanDisk and Cognizant Technology Solutions.

  • MasterCard has four APIs on its board of directors.

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    This is more than any other company in the Fortune 500.

Disclosure
LEAP made every effort to achieve a high degree of accuracy. Information on race, ethnicity and gender composition of board members is not always publicly available. If errors or omissions are discovered, LEAP will make necessary adjustments. Please contact Grace Toy, Sr. Vice President of Administration and CFO, at gtoy@leap.org.

LEAP Board Representation Research Reports