GM board will become majority female

DETROIT -- Women will become the majority on the board of General Motors this year after two male directors retire. It’s a first for an automaker and places GM among a handful of companies with roughly the same number of men and women at the highest level.

GM’s board will shrink to 11 members, from 13, with two directors not standing for re-election at the annual meeting June 4, the company said in its proxy filing. Jim Mulva, former CEO of ConocoPhillips, and Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, are both 72, the retirement age for the automaker’s board.

The board will temporarily waive the retirement age requirement for Lead Director Tim Solso, also 72, for one year to assist in GM’s “period of transformation,” the company said. Six women, including CEO Mary Barra, and five men complete the slate of members up for shareholders’ approval at the annual meeting.

The shift comes as women are slowly gaining more power at the largest U.S. companies, lifted by pressure from investors and employees as well as state-mandated quotas. Researcher Equilar says women may now comprise half the members of Russell 3000 company boards by 2034, a forecast that has shortened by two decades since 2016.

Barring changes in the composition of other company boards, Barra and incoming Best Buy Co. CEO Corie Barry will become the only female CEOs in the S&P 500 who serve a board with a majority of female directors, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp., the only other companies with a current majority of female directors, are both run by male CEOs.

Another 19 S&P 500 boards would swing to majority female directors with the addition of one more woman, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.