Data about frequency of corporate secretary, governance and compliance positions

Corp. Secretary, Jan. 2006 at 12 reports on survey data from nearly 400 corporate secretaries, general counsel and other governance professionals, many of whom belong to the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals (until recently the American Society of Corporate Secretaries). Of the respondents, 16 percent said that the company has a chief governance officer. A bit more than half of the companies have a designated chief compliance officer.

The article quotes John Coburn, III, secretary and senior governance counsel at Nike, who explains that Nike created his title and position of “senior governance counsel” about a year before: “We created it to recognize the governance and corporate secretary functions were really different roles, and that the governance position has evolved.” Coburn is also in charge of corporate compliance and has a staff of four paralegals to help him discharge his responsibilities.