Stewardship and the Evolution of Holistic Governance

Today's boards provide effective oversight of performance, people, planet and more.

In a 2019 article entitled “The Future of the Compensation Committee,” we observed that compensation committee members were, organically and of their own accord, expanding their purview and areas of interest beyond executive compensation and into an increasing array of pay and people issues. 

In 2020, we introduced the term “human capital governance,” based on growing board member interest in a broader set of human resource issues, including talent acquisition, DEI, fair pay, benefits access and culture. We speculated at the time that 2020 would be the “year of the S” in ESG, even though social issues had been gaining only limited traction at that time. Little did we know that the pandemic and other earthshaking events of 2020 would amplify and accelerate board-level interest in both the E and the S in ESG and raise concerns about risk.

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About the Author(s)

Don Delves

Don Delves is managing director, practice leader, executive compensation, North America for WTW


John M. Bremen

John Bremen is a managing director at WTW. He can be reached at john.bremen@willistowerswatson.com.


Becky Huddleston

Becky Huddleston is a director at WTW.


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