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Knowledge Base

Board of Directors Diversity & Compensation Data Sources

Information and data on public companies' executive boards (e.g. who the board members are, how many there are, number of women, etc.) can be found in the following sources.

Large Datasets

  • ISS ESG – see WRDS access help – Go-to source covering S&P 1500 companies and includes variables about individual board directors back to the 1990s. It includes both compensation and diversity data.
    1. Under Subscriptions go to ISS ESG. For diversity variables (gender and ethnicity) and other details about the Directors (e.g. employer, title, age, etc.), use the Directors files. For compensation, use the Incentive Lab > Director Annual Compensation Table.
    2. Fill out the Web Query Form (see instructions).
  • Compustat: Execucomp – see WRDS access help - Provides individual-level compensation data for Directors of U.S. public firms back to the mid-2000s. It doesn't include diversity data for Directors.
    1. Under Subscriptions go to Compustat - Capital IQ > Execucomp > Annual Compensation.
    2. Fill out the Web Query Form (see instructions).
  • MSCI GMI Ratings – see WRDS access help– Provides data for directors of ~3,000 US companies from 2001-2018 (it is no longer being updated). It includes information about the Directors' gender, age, and tenure but does not include compensation information.
    1. Under Subscriptions go to MSCI (formerly KLD and GMI) > Directorships.
    2. Fill out the Web Query Form (see instructions).

Other Data Sources

These sources are better for looking up individual companies and/or for getting current data rather than getting a large time-series dataset.

  • Capital IQ – see Capital IQ access help
    • Enter company name in search box and on company landing page, look in left hand navigation menu for People > Board Members.
  • FactSet – see Factset access help
    • Choosing FactSet Web module, enter in Company name in search box and on a company's landing page, look in left hand navigation menu for Activism, Management and Governance > Management & Board.
  • LSEG Workspace – see LSEG Workspace access help (Global coverage)
    • On the company's landing page, go to the ESG tab > Offices > Detail. The compensation data will be in the Renumeration box.




Answered By: Nora Richardson
Oct 12, 2023

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