An Independent Director (also sometimes known as a outside director or non-executive director) is a director (member) of a board of directors who does not have a material or pecuniary relationship with company or related persons, except sitting fees. Independent Directors do not own shares in the company. (Some sources state non-executive directors are different from independent ones in that non-executive director are allowed to hold shares in the firm while independent directors are not. In the US, independent outsiders make up 66% of all boards and 72% of S&P 500 company boards, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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Famous quotes containing the words independent and/or director:
“I’d like to come back as an independent woman who has more ambition than I have.”
—Jenny Bird (b. c. 1937)
“The director is simply the audience. So the terrible burden of the director is to take the place of that yawning vacuum, to be the audience and to select from what happens during the day which movement shall be a disaster and which a gala night. His job is to preside over accidents.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1984)