Women and minorities account for half of the 397 newest independent directors at S&P 500 companies, according to an analysis of 2017 proxy statements by Spencer Stuart, an executive recruitment firm. That is the highest level since the firm began tracking the data in 1998. The shift partly reflects shareholder pressure. Institutional investors “keep raising the issue of board diversity,’’ said Julie Hembrock Daum, head of Spencer Stuart’s North American board practice. Read the original story from The Wall Street Journal.