Staggered Board

See: Board of Directors.

Boards have durations. That is, when a board member is elected to the board by its common shareholders, that elected office usually comes with a pre-set duration. Like, say, 3 years. If you have 9 directors, you don't want all 9 to come up for election at the same time; all continuity of information and operations would be lost.

So boards generally "stagger" their election cycles. Like...one year, 3 are elected. Then the next, another 3. And then the next, another 3. That way, at any one time, only a third of the board are potentially not being elected or attritting off their stints as directors. Way smoother in volatile environments.