What Is the Role of the Board-Level Technology Committee?

Abstract

The board-level technology committee (TC) could play a significant role in enterprise risk management. Unfortunately, only about ten percent of public companies have chartered such a committee. Far from being a monolith, companies that charter a TC often use it to control strategic and/or operational risk. The more popular option is strategic risk management. There is evidence that the TC mitigates the negative market reaction to data breaches (Higgs, et al 2016). Based on a review of fifty existing TC charters, TCs today focus mainly on strategic risk — the risk associated with strategic product technology development.

Keywords: technology committee, committee charter, data breaches