From the Editor...

First off, Happy 10 Years to us! Hopefully you've noticed our new logo celebrating 10 years of FBV, which is on the website, our LinkedIn page, and email alerts. Dan and I are proud to have built FBV into a reliable and trusted source for news, insight, and analysis in the fund governance space. Some of you have been with us since we launched in 2015 and some of you have joined along the way; we appreciate all of you. Look for special 10th Anniversary stories throughout October, starting this week, and feel free to reach out to chat and catch up anytime. 

We recently examined boardroom diversity data generated by IDC in its annual studies on directors practices and found that the latest figures are concerning to some who had been encouraged by progress boards have made in recent years. While overall percentages of women and individuals representing a minority group were fairly steady in 2024, the proportion of new directors who fit in those categories dropped significantly in the 2023-to-2024 period. We spoke to independent directors and others about why the numbers—on which FBV reports exclusively—may be lower and what might lie ahead. 

Capital Group is planning to consolidate the number of board clusters that oversee its funds, and we've brought you the details on that, including why the realignment is being proposed. Shareholders are scheduled to vote at the end of November. For other board news and to stay up to date on comings and goings, check out our latest Who's at the Table? feature.

In the courts, a federal judge gave preliminary approval to a plan for Vanguard Group to pay $25 million to settle a class-action suit related to misleading statements about its target-date funds. We've been following this case for a while, so you can get all caught up, and we'll update if something new develops.

And finally, Management Practice's Sara Yerkey has written an article that looks at how the markets performed in the first half of 2025 and what boards should focus on when assessing the affect that market performance had on funds they oversee and those funds' advisers. It's an interesting piece, so don't miss it.

For now, 

Hillary Jackson, co-founder and editor