Board Selection, Composition, and Refreshment
Our Board selects individuals as director nominees who, in the opinion of the Board, demonstrate the highest personal and professional integrity as well as exceptional ability and judgment, who can serve as a sounding board for our CEO on planning and policy, and who will be most effective, in connection with the other nominees to our Board, in collectively serving the long-term interests of all our shareholders. Whenever the Governance and Nominating Committee concludes that a new nominee to our Board is required or advisable, it considers recommendations from directors, management, shareholders, and, if deemed appropriate, consultants retained for that purpose.
The Board believes that board diversity is important to serving the long-term interests of shareholders. When considering diversity in director nominee selection, our Board gives weight to the extent to which candidates would increase the effectiveness of the Board by broadening the mix of experience, knowledge, backgrounds, skills, ages, and tenures represented among its members. Our Board has adopted a policy, reflected in our Corporate Governance Guidelines, requiring that the initial list of potential director and external CEO candidates presented by third-party search firms include qualified diverse candidates, including diversity of gender and race or ethnicity.
Our active and engaged Board maintains a robust refreshment process, which focuses on ensuring our Board has a diverse skillset that benefits from both the industry- and company-specific knowledge of our longer-tenured directors, as well as the fresh perspectives brought by our newer directors.