Moreover, according to The Corporate Library, a lobby group for good governance, directors of many companies, such as Verizon, Pfizer, Citigroup and Bank of America, have interlocking relationships: the chief executive of company A sits on company B's board and vice versa.
When Martyn Thomas, the acting chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, announced on 12 October that the governing body's legal and governance director, Karena Vleck, had been asked to investigate allegations of player misconduct during the World Cup in New Zealand, he issued a strong warning.
An RFU investigation conducted by Rob Andrew, the professional rugby director, and the legal and governance director, Kerena Vleck, found the Gloucester centre had been guilty of "unacceptable" behaviour.
His father is a partner in Boardroom Consultants, a company in New York that specializes in corporate governance, director selection and executive search.
But another Lone Star move is unusual: its subpoena and deposition of Ted White, corporate governance director at the California Public Employees Retirement Systemm, known as Calpers, owner of 372,000 Lone Star shares.
Roger Barker, the institute's corporate governance director, said: "A non-executive director does not have access to the same level of information as an executive director, and does not have the same individual decision-making powers.
Name: Emma Howard Boyd Company: Jupiter Asset Management Title: Sustainable Investment & Governance Director Emma Howard Boyd joined Jupiter in 1994 and has overall responsibility for the management and development of Jupiter's sustainable investment business.
But the harshest words came from the Institute of Directors, whose corporate governance director Roger Barker asked "for whom is this institution being run?" after the bank paid out £2.4bn in bonuses but just £860m in dividends to shareholders.
"I think it's important to emphasize that this initiative should be seen less as a criticism than as a constructive attempt to strengthen standards and enforcement," said Pat Doherty, corporate governance director of New York State Comptroller Thomas P DiNapoli, during the conference call.
The RFU's professional rugby director, Rob Andrew, and the legal and governance director, Karena Vleck, had taken evidence about the 33-year-old's behaviour with a blonde in the now infamous Altitude Bar in Queenstown the day after England's opening match against Argentina.
The patenting of DNA-based tests is "unacceptable, unenforceable, and detrimental," said Gail Norbury, commissioning and governance director of genetics laboratories at Guy's Hospital here.
