A quick analysis of how the “Magnificent Seven” companies (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Tesla) compose their boards and how that might influence governance and decision-making.
Older, more experienced board members are preferred with the average board member age being 62.
Over 55% of board members are 61 or older and less than 12% are aged 40-50.
Preferred board size is consistent, with an average board size of 9 members, ranging from 7 members to 12 members.
Technology experience dominates among board member expertise, closely followed by finance experience.
Total Number of Board Members
Board Member Age
| Company | Ticker | Count | Board Members (age) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Inc. | AAPL | 8 | Tim Cook (63), James Bell (74), Albert Gore Jr. (75), Alex Gorsky (64), Andrea Jung (66), Ronald Sugar (75), Susan Wagner (62), Monica Lozano (67) |
| Microsoft Corporation | MSFT | 12 | Satya Nadella (56), Reid Hoffman (56), Hugh Johnston (62), Sandra Peterson (64), Charles Noski (71), John Thompson (74), Emma Walmsley (54), Teri List-Stoll (61), Carlos Rodriguez (59), Penny Pritzker (64), Padmasree Warrior (53), John W. Stanton (66) |
| Amazon.com, Inc. | AMZN | 8 | Jeff Bezos (60), Andy Jassy (56), Jamie Gorelick (73), Daniel Huttenlocher (64), Indra Nooyi (69), Jonathan Rubinstein (67), Thomas Ryder (78), Patricia Stonesifer (67) |
| Alphabet Inc. | GOOGL | 11 | Larry Page (50), Sergey Brin (50), Sundar Pichai (51), John Hennessy (71), Frances Arnold (67), L. John Doerr (72), Roger Ferguson (72), Ann Mather (65), K. Ram Shriram (66), Robin L. Washington (60), Alan R. Mulally (78) |
| Meta Platforms, Inc. | META | 7 | Mark Zuckerberg (40), Sheryl Sandberg (54), Marc Andreessen (52), Peter Thiel (56), Kenneth Chenault (72), Jeffrey Zients (58), Peggy Alford (51) |
| NVIDIA Corporation | NVDA | 12 | Jensen Huang (61), Tench Coxe (66), Mark Perry (65), A. Brooke Seawell (76), Stephen Neal (71), Persis Drell (67), John Dabiri (43), Dawn Hudson (66), Harvey C. Jones (68), Robert K. Burgess (74), Stephen C. Tindall (67), S. Robson Walton (78) |
| Tesla, Inc. | TSLA | 11 | Elon Musk (52), Robyn Denholm (59), Ira Ehrenpreis (56), James Murdoch (50), Kimbal Musk (51), Joe Gebbia (42), JB Straubel (48), Kathleen Wilson-Thompson (63), Hiro Mizuno (47), Larry Ellison (79), Hiromichi Mizuno (58) |
Board Member Areas of Expertise
| Name | Age | Industry Expertise | Other Affiliations | Company |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Cook | 63 | Technology, Operations | CEO of Apple Inc. | Apple Inc. |
| James Bell | 74 | Finance, Aerospace | Former CFO of The Boeing Company | Apple Inc. |
| Albert Gore Jr. | 75 | Government, Environmental | Former Vice President of the United States | Apple Inc. |
| Alex Gorsky | 64 | Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals | Executive Chairman of Johnson & Johnson | Apple Inc. |
| Andrea Jung | 66 | Consumer Goods, Nonprofit | President and CEO of Grameen America | Apple Inc. |
| Ronald Sugar | 75 | Aerospace, Defense | Former Chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman | Apple Inc. |
| Susan Wagner | 62 | Finance, Investment Mgmt. | Co-founder and Director of BlackRock | Apple Inc. |
| Monica Lozano | 67 | Media, Education | President and CEO of College Futures Foundation | Apple Inc. |
| Satya Nadella | 56 | Technology, Cloud Computing | CEO of Microsoft Corporation | Microsoft Corporation |
| Reid Hoffman | 56 | Technology, Venture Capital | Partner at Greylock Partners | Microsoft Corporation |
| Hugh Johnston | 62 | Finance, Consumer Goods | Vice Chairman and CFO of PepsiCo | Microsoft Corporation |
| Sandra Peterson | 64 | Healthcare, Consumer Goods | Operating Partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice | Microsoft Corporation |
| Charles Noski | 71 | Finance, Technology | Former Vice Chairman of Bank of America | Microsoft Corporation |
| John Thompson | 74 | Technology, Security | Lead Independent Director of Microsoft Corporation | Microsoft Corporation |
| Emma Walmsley | 54 | Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals | CEO of GlaxoSmithKline | Microsoft Corporation |
| Teri List-Stoll | 61 | Finance, Retail | Former CFO of The Gap Inc. | Microsoft Corporation |
| Carlos Rodriguez | 59 | Human Capital Management | CEO of ADP | Microsoft Corporation |
| Penny Pritzker | 64 | Real Estate, Hospitality | Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce | Microsoft Corporation |
| Padmasree Warrior | 53 | Technology, Engineering | CEO of Fable | Microsoft Corporation |
| John W. Stanton | 66 | Telecommunications, Wireless | Chairman of Trilogy International Partners | Microsoft Corporation |
| Jeff Bezos | 60 | Technology, E-commerce | Executive Chairman of Amazon.com, Inc. | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Andy Jassy | 56 | Technology, Cloud Computing | CEO of Amazon.com, Inc. | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Jamie Gorelick | 73 | Law, Government | Partner at WilmerHale | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Daniel Huttenlocher | 64 | Technology, Education | Dean of MIT Schwarzman College of Computing | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Indra Nooyi | 69 | Consumer Goods, Finance | Former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Jonathan Rubinstein | 67 | Technology, Hardware | Former CEO of Palm, Inc. | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Thomas Ryder | 78 | Publishing, Consumer Goods | Former Chairman and CEO of The Reader’s Digest Association | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Patricia Stonesifer | 67 | Technology, Nonprofit | Former CEO of Martha’s Table | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Larry Page | 50 | Technology, Internet | Co-founder of Google | Alphabet Inc. |
| Sergey Brin | 50 | Technology, Internet | Co-founder of Google | Alphabet Inc. |
| Sundar Pichai | 51 | Technology, Internet | CEO of Alphabet Inc. | Alphabet Inc. |
| John Hennessy | 71 | Education, Technology | Chairman of Alphabet Inc., Former President of Stanford University | Alphabet Inc. |
| Frances Arnold | 67 | Science, Engineering | Professor at Caltech, Nobel Laureate | Alphabet Inc. |
| L. John Doerr | 72 | Venture Capital, Technology | Chairman of Kleiner Perkins | Alphabet Inc. |
| Roger Ferguson | 72 | Finance, Insurance | Former President and CEO of TIAA | Alphabet Inc. |
| Ann Mather | 65 | Finance, Media | Former CFO of Pixar | Alphabet Inc. |
| K. Ram Shriram | 66 | Venture Capital, Technology | Managing Partner of Sherpalo Ventures | Alphabet Inc. |
| Robin L. Washington | 60 | Finance, Healthcare | Former CFO of Gilead Sciences | Alphabet Inc. |
| Alan R. Mulally | 78 | Automotive, Aerospace | Former CEO of Ford | Alphabet Inc. |
| Mark Zuckerberg | 40 | Technology, Social Media | Chairman and CEO of Meta Platforms, Inc. | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Sheryl Sandberg | 54 | Technology, Social Media | Former COO of Meta Platforms, Inc. | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Marc Andreessen | 52 | Technology, Venture Capital | General Partner of Andreessen Horowitz | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Peter Thiel | 56 | Technology, Venture Capital | President of Clarium Capital | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Kenneth Chenault | 72 | Finance, Consumer Goods | Chairman and Managing Director of General Catalyst | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Jeffrey Zients | 58 | Healthcare, Government | CEO of Cranemere | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Peggy Alford | 51 | Finance, Technology | EVP at PayPal | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Jensen Huang | 61 | Technology, Hardware | President and CEO of NVIDIA Corporation | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Tench Coxe | 66 | Venture Capital, Technology | Managing Director of Sutter Hill Ventures | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Mark Perry | 65 | Technology, Finance | Former CFO of Amazon.com | NVIDIA Corporation |
| A. Brooke Seawell | 76 | Venture Capital, Technology | Venture Partner at NEA | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Stephen Neal | 71 | Law, Corporate Governance | Chairman of Cooley LLP | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Persis Drell | 67 | Science, Education | Provost at Stanford University | NVIDIA Corporation |
| John Dabiri | 43 | Science, Engineering | Professor at Caltech | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Dawn Hudson | 66 | Consumer Goods, Marketing | Former CEO of PepsiCo North America | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Harvey C. Jones | 68 | Venture Capital, Technology | Managing Partner at Los Altos Hills Private Equity | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Robert K. Burgess | 74 | Technology, Media | Former CEO of Macromedia, Inc. | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Stephen C. Tindall | 67 | Retail, Technology | Founder and Director of The Warehouse Group | NVIDIA Corporation |
| S. Robson Walton | 78 | Retail, Management | Former Chairman of Walmart Inc. | NVIDIA Corporation |
| Elon Musk | 52 | Technology, Automotive | CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, Inc. | Tesla, Inc. |
| Robyn Denholm | 59 | Finance, Automotive | Chair of the Board of Tesla, Inc. | Tesla, Inc. |
| Ira Ehrenpreis | 56 | Venture Capital, Clean Energy | Managing Partner of DBL Partners | Tesla, Inc. |
| James Murdoch | 50 | Media, Finance | CEO of Lupa Systems | Tesla, Inc. |
| Kimbal Musk | 51 | Food, Technology | Co-founder of The Kitchen Restaurant Group | Tesla, Inc. |
| Joe Gebbia | 42 | Technology, Hospitality | Co-founder of Airbnb | Tesla, Inc. |
| JB Straubel | 48 | Technology, Automotive | CEO of Redwood Materials | Tesla, Inc. |
| Kathleen Wilson-Thompson | 63 | Human Resources, Healthcare | Former EVP and Global Chief HR Officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance | Tesla, Inc. |
| Hiro Mizuno | 47 | Finance, Investment | Former Executive Managing Director and CIO of Japan’s GPIF | Tesla, Inc. |
| Larry Ellison | 79 | Technology, Software | Co-founder and CTO of Oracle Corporation | Tesla, Inc. |
| Hiromichi Mizuno | 58 | Finance, Investment | Former Executive Managing Director and CIO of Japan’s GPIF | Tesla, Inc. |