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- Boards now recruit for sharper, more specific skills than three years ago, led by AI governance, broadened risk oversight and commercial capability.
- Assessment is shifting from job titles to relevant capability, with financial, digital, AI and people literacy now baseline expectations for every director.
- The pipeline needs adaptable, diverse boards aligned to strategy, not a static skills matrix, with tenure following fit over convention.
Board recruitment briefs are sharper than ever. From AI governance to broadened risk oversight, here’s what search experts say directors need to bring to the table.
Board recruitment briefs have become notably more specific than they were even three years ago. Michelle Gardiner, Managing Partner, Board Practice, at executive and board search firm Derwent, has observed three capability clusters come up consistently across board searches Derwent has conducted over the past 12 months.
“The first is technology, digital innovation and AI governance,” she says. “Boards want directors who can interrogate AI capital spending decisions at a strategic level, asking sharp questions about risk, return and readiness, rather than simply reviewing the numbers.”
The second is audit and risk, although the scope has widened considerably, she says. Boards now need directors who can think across a broader landscape –operational risks such as supply chain disruption and geopolitical exposure, technology and cyber risk, and people risk spanning both workforce and customer.
Gardiner says the third is commercial capability, sharpened by sustained margin pressure across many sectors.
“Boards are seeking directors who understand how value is created and protected – backed by hands-on experience in capital allocation, M&A and driving revenue growth.”
Directors who have held a CEO or senior leadership role bring something distinct, says Gardiner, which is the ability to stress test a growth strategy, not just review it.
It’s no longer simply whether a board is well-governed. It’s whether the board has the right mix of capability, judgement and adaptability to lead the organisation into its next chapter.
From titles to relevance
Kerryn Newton FAICD, CEO of Directors Australia, describes a parallel shift, from broad, generalist governance credentials towards more targeted and demonstrable capabilities.
Several years ago, a board might have listed “technology” or “risk” as a single line on its skills matrix, she says.
“Those categories have since become far more sophisticated. Technology now spans AI, cybersecurity, digital products, data governance and technology-enabled transformation. Risk increasingly covers operational resilience, supply chains, geopolitical exposure, climate, reputation and stakeholder trust.”
Newton also points to a shift in how candidates are assessed. Boards are moving away from appointing directors principally on the seniority of a past title – and towards examining the currency and relevance of their experience.
The question is no longer simply whether someone has held a CEO, CFO or senior professional role, but whether they have dealt with the issues the organisation is likely to face next.
Behavioural contribution matters just as much. A highly credentialled director who dominates discussion, cannot adjust their position or undermines trust can materially weaken a board, says Newton.
“Constructive challenge requires independence and courage, but also curiosity, self-awareness and the ability to disagree without making it personal. Boards are recruiting less for a collection of impressive individuals and more for an effective decision-making team.”
Building a pipeline of abilities
The pipeline question over a three, five or 10-year timeframe is ultimately a succession question.
“Boards that treat skills renewal as a live, ongoing discipline, rather than a once-per-cycle compliance exercise, will be better placed to govern through whatever comes next,” says Gardiner.
Newton sets out a similar trajectory by horizon. Over the next three years, she expects boards to prioritise AI and digital literacy, cybersecurity, data governance, workforce transformation, organisational resilience and oversight of increasingly interconnected regulatory and reputational risks. These will be treated not as discrete technical topics, but as central to strategy, capital allocation and organisational performance, she says.
Over a five-year horizon, the focus is likely to extend into business-model transformation – redesigning organisations around automation and AI, managing new forms of competition, accessing and deploying capital, navigating energy and climate transition, and overseeing workforces where human and machine capability are increasingly integrated.
Looking five to 10 years ahead, Newton says the task is less about predicting specific technical skills and more about building an adaptable board for a different global operating environment. Technologies will change, but the enduring requirement will be directors who can make sound decisions in unfamiliar conditions, absorb new information quickly and work effectively across different cultural contexts. That means building a pipeline with different generations, diversity, professional backgrounds and ways of thinking.
Composition over compliance
Gardiner and Newton agree that board composition needs to be genuinely aligned to a company’s strategy, not fixed to a skills matrix drawn up three years ago.
That alignment has to be revisited as strategy evolves, with chairs and nomination committees clear-eyed about when a director’s skills remain relevant to where the business is heading – and when they don’t.
“Tenure should follow strategic fit, not convention,” says Gardiner. “Bringing the right skills on when they’re needed, and being willing to move on when they’re not, isn’t a reflection on a director’s past contribution. It’s how a high-performing board stays fit for purpose.”
The strongest boards, adds Newton, will combine deep institutional and industry knowledge with directors who bring contemporary operating experience and a genuinely different perspective.
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