麥當勞在名單上指出，除湯普森外，該公司13位董事中有12名獨立董事。不過，除了同為董事會成員，這些成員之間還存在一些有意思的關聯。

- 絕大多數麥當勞董事的辦公地點都在芝加哥以外（這樣的地理分布對一家真正的全球化企業來說并不是非常多元化）。

- 名單顯示，由麥當勞董事恩里克?埃爾南德斯擔任CEO的安保公司Inter-Con Security Systems在2013年為麥當勞的家庭辦公室園區提供了安保系統。麥當勞為此支付了130萬美元（不到后者收入的1%）。

- 2002-2009年，耐克公司（Nike）高層珍妮?杰克遜和埃爾南德斯都在零售企業諾德斯特龍（Nordstrom）擔任董事。2006年，埃爾南德斯成為諾德斯特龍非執行董事長。兩人均于1999年進入麥當勞董事會。

- 盡管擔任了麥當勞董事，但羅杰?斯通和麥肯納都曾經營公司作為麥當勞的供應商。

- 麥當勞CEO唐?湯普森曾于2007-2013年在電力公司Exelon擔任董事，當時和他一起在Exelon擔任董事的還有麥當勞董事、投資公司Ariel Investments首席執行官約翰?羅杰斯。羅杰斯2000年進入Exelon董事會，一直任職至今。Exelon的資料顯示，麥當勞是該公司客戶，2013年向其支付1400萬美元。

- 麥肯納是風險管理及再保險公司怡安（Aon）資格最老的董事，任職時間超過40年，于2012年退出董事會。麥當勞董事羅杰斯1993年進入怡安董事會，也在2012年卸任。羅杰斯從2003年開始擔任麥當勞董事。

- 麥當勞董事、稅務及商業咨詢公司True Partners Consulting首席執行官凱瑞?麥克米倫是芝加哥藝術學院（School of the Art Institute of Chicago）監事會主席。另一名麥當勞董事沃爾特?馬瑟則是該學院院長。

- 2011年，麥當勞董事理查德?倫尼進入私募公司Friedman, Fleischer & Lowe擔任經營合伙人，目前為高級顧問。今年9月份，另一位麥當勞董事羅伯特?埃克特也成為該公司經營合伙人。兩人從2005年起開始在麥當勞董事會共事。

公司治理專家內爾?米諾指出，以前芝加哥的“熟人董事會”就比其他城市多，她相信現在很可能依然如此。米諾說：“麥當勞董事會的情況應該出現在1990年前后，而不是2014年。大多數公司董事會已經認識到，非常清楚地向股東表明自身的獨立性有多么重要，而麥當勞好像還沒有意識到這一點。”

特拉華大學的埃爾森認為，董事們在公司以外的關系越密切，就越讓人擔心。這些關系有可能把別的因素帶進董事會，而這樣的因素或許會讓董事們難以保持客觀。他還說：“只要存在任職時間特別長以及董事之間關系密切的情況，董事會的效用就可能成問題。”（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審稿： Vera Han

In its proxy, the company notes that 12 of 13 of its directors are independent—Thompson being the exception. But there are a couple of interesting connections between the company’s directors that go beyond the McDonald’s boardroom:

–The vast majority of McDonald’s board members are based out of Chicago. (That’s not very geographically diverse for a truly global company.)

–According to the proxy, in 2013 Inter-Con Security Systems, whose CEO is McDonald’s director Enrique Hernandez, provided physical security systems for the company’s home office campus. McDonald’s payments to Inter-Con totaled $1.3 million (less than 1% of Inter-Con’s revenue).

–Jeanne Jackson, a Nike executive, overlapped on the Nordstrom board with Hernandez from 2002-2009. Hernandez became Nordstrom’s non-executive chairman in 2006. They have overlapped on the McDonald’s board together since 1999.

–Directors Roger Stone and McKenna at one time both ran companies that were suppliers to McDonald’s, even as they sat on McDonald’s board of directors.

–McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson was a director of the utility company Exelon from 2007 to 2013, overlapping with McDonald’s director and Ariel Investments CEO John Rogers. Rogers is a current Exelon director who joined the board in 2000. Exelon’s proxy notes that McDonald’s is a customer, paying Exelon $14 million in 2013.

–McKenna served as Aon’s longest-tenured director, stepping down in 2012 after more than 40 years. McDonald’s director Rogers joined the Aon board in 1993, serving also until 2012. Rogers has been on the McDonald’s board since 2003.

–McDonald’s director Cary McMillan, CEO of True Partners Consulting, is chairman of the Board of Governors for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Fellow McDonald’s director Walter Massey is president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

–Director Richard Lenny joined private equity firm Friedman, Fleischer & Lowe as an operating partner in 2011 and is now a senior advisor. This September his fellow McDonald’s board member Robert Eckert became an operating partner. They’ve overlapped on the McDonald’s board since 2005.

Corporate governance expert Nell Minow notes that Chicago has historically had more inbred boards than other cities, and she believes that may very well still be the case. “What you see at McDonald’s is what we expect from boards circa 1990, not circa 2014,” she says. “It’s like McDonald’s hasn’t gotten the message that most boards have about how important it is that you demonstrate a very clear picture of independence to the shareholder community.”

Elson of the University of Delaware says that the closer directors get outside of the board room, the more concerning it is. These relationships have the potential to introduce elements into the mix that might make it hard to be objective. He adds, “Any time you see significant length of tenure and interrelationships between directors, it raises questions of effectiveness.”