Despite an ever-increasing number of qualified female and minority applicants for corporate directorships, of the 11,500 Fortune 1,000 board seats available today women hold only fourteen percent, blacks three percent, and Hispanics less than one percent---revealing only incremental growth, and even some backsliding in diversification. With almost 2,000 Fortune 1,000 board members resigning a year, and that number set to double in the next few years as many directors reach mandatory retirement ages, there will be a widening opportunity and pressure for corporations to live up to the diversity standards they have long given lip-service to. The actual amount of change likely to occur in coming years will be reduced by a growing trend towards smaller boards due to skyrocketing insurance premiums for directors, and a tendency for companies to recruit from a small group of high profile minorities and women who already hold multiple directorships and are known variables.
