The Ideal Age for Your Next Board Members

As you know there is no perfect age that a board member should be to contribute the company’s board. There is an ideal age, however, for recruiting your next board member.

The ideal age, in my opinion, is 45-60 years old (plus or minus 5 years depending on circumstances). This is for a new board members who you would hope would spend years on the board supporting the company.

The primary reason a person over the age of 45 is experience. Having decades of experience in operating businesses gives a board member wisdom that can be used to help the company grow. A board member over 45 has experience with hiring and firing, economic cycles, company/business cycles. Many parts of business change continually while the majority of running a successful company remain the same. Experience teaches us that.

When a person is over the age of 60 there are really multiple factors that need to be considered. Is the person still active in business or is the person retired. Does the person have the drive to keep up with changing aspects of the industry the company is in. One of the challenges that a company has in hiring new board members is how long they will serve and how can the company exit a board member if a change is necessary. There is nothing worse than a board member who can’t keep up with the business issues but is passionate about the company and wants to continue with their board duties.

So ideally the person between the age of 45 and 60 brings enough experience and relevance to ultimately bring the maximum value to the board and company the board serves. It is always a good idea before bringing on a new board member that the company determines the average age of the board members currently serving and that a new board member be at or below the average. This brings newer, fresher ideas and energy to the board.

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