While most U.S. public companies combine the roles of CEO and chair, a growing number are opting to split the roles. According to a recent study by executive search firm Spencer Stuart, 40 percent of S&P 500 companies have separate chairs, up from 23 percent in 2000.
Non-executive chairs are common in many countries outside the United States. Some 79 percent of companies in the United Kingdom’s FTSE 350 index report that they have independent chairs, according to "Chairing the Board," a March 2009 report published by the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management. That report, which backs separate chairs and CEOs, says that splitting the two roles is the norm also in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore and South Africa. Recently, a large number of blue chip companies in France have bucked this trend and have begun recombining the roles of chair and CEO.
