As a result of the increasing relevance of technology to areas of Board responsibility (such as oversight of acquisitions) and because of Sarbanes-Oxley rules that require companies to detail the adequacy of their internal controls over technology systems, large US public companies are increasingly forming technology committees of the Board of Directors. The WSJ (paid sub required) has an article detailing the practice and describing some examples. Quote:
While boards of most public companies rely on audit, finance or compensation committees to help steer them through financial or accounting issues, the formation of science and technology committees is a relatively new development, according to information-technology and governance experts. The move, they say, is being driven by the increased complexity of technology issues now facing boards.
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Joshua Boger, chairman and chief executive of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., said his company’s board decided to set up a technology committee in the past year, because Vertex is moving from being a drug-discovery company to one entering the product-commercialization phase. “We are getting more and more complex as a company,” he said.
Dave Bent, chief information officer of United Stationers Inc., cited the same reason for the formation of a tech panel on the board of his company, which is the largest distributor of office products in North America. “Technology is the central nervous system of the company; if the technology system goes down, the operations come to a stop,” Mr. Bent said.