Directors on Their Last Lap
from
September/October 2006
by Lois Gilman
(Some companies are loath to let the talent leave.)
Norman R. Augustine, 71
Procter & Gamble
The former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin is set to step down this year from the P&G board, which established an 18-year term limit in 2003. But don’t be surprised if the board invites him to run again. It ignored its age limit (70) for Augustine, a director since 1989, citing the “continuity” that he brings to its midst.
Kenneth M. Duberstein, 62
Fannie Mae
The chairman of the Duberstein Group, a consulting company, will leave in 2008 as part of a staggered term-limits system that the mortgage company put in place this year. Duberstein will have
served 10 years.
Donald A. James, 62
Harley-Davidson
It looks like an extra lap for James, chairman and CEO of Deely Harley-Davidson Canada, an independent distributor of motor bikes north of the border. James’s 15-year term, a limit adopted in 2001, expired in early 2006. His fellow directors nominated him for another three years, however, and the shareholders revved their approval.
Clint W. Murchison III, 59
Centex Corp.
The Dallas homebuilder adopted a 20-year term limit for its directors in 2004. But don’t expect Murchison, a private investor with interests in real estate and a 20-year veteran of the board, to step down. He’s been grandfathered and is therefore exempt from the term limit.
Stephen P. Nachtsheim, 61
Deluxe Corp.
Like other directors at the check producer, Nachtsheim is subject to a 12-year limit, which for him arrives in 2008. This means he’ll also step down as the independent chairman of the board, which set up its term limits in 1999.
Patrick F. Noonan, 63
Ashland
Noonan will step down in 2007, a year after his term limit originally expired. The chemical company, which instituted a 15-year limit in 2005, wanted more time to find a replacement for the founder and chairman of the Conservation Fund, whose board service was described in the proxy as “meritorious.”
Stephen A. Ross, 62
Freddie Mac
The MIT professor of finance and economics will leave the home-loan company’s board in 2008, when he reaches the 10-year limit set in 2004. Fellow directors Ronald F. Poe, 67, who runs his own real estate investment company, and William J. Turner, 62, co-founder of Signature Capital, a venture capital firm, both hit that limit this year, but one of them will stay on for an extra 12 months to provide continuity.
Gary L. Wilson, 66
Walt Disney Co.
Wilson, the chairman of Northwest Airlines, has more lives than Bambi’s father when it comes to board service at Disney. Under the terms adopted in 2002, the company expects directors to offer their resignations after 12 years. It’s up to the board to accept or reject them. If a director is elected to another three-year term, he or she must again offer to resign when that one expires. Wilson, if he’s followed this rule, has already tried to resign three times. He’ll have to do it again in 2007, when his current term expires. What will the board say this time?
