Companies Are Filling Their Boards With Newbies

For most of the past decade, Cheryl Miller has spent her days trying to put more cars on America’s roads—first as the treasurer and now as the chief financial officer of AutoNation Inc., the largest auto retailer in the U.S. And for the past year she’s been working on behalf of another of the country’s biggest companies, Tyson Foods Inc., as one of the newest members of its board of directors.

When she was appointed in late 2016, at age 44, Miller, one of several female directors in the meat and poultry company’s 83-year history, had never served on a corporate board. A growing number of companies, including Tyson, Republic Services, Foot Locker, and Best Buy, are eschewing traditional board candidates—retired chief executive officers, who are overwhelmingly older white men—and opting for diverse members, many of them first-timers with no experience.