Samuel J. Palmisano, current chairman and CEO of IBM, was named to the post for a two-year term. He now has the authority to lead board meetings in the absence of the chairman—currently CEO Rex W. Tillerson— and call and chair executive sessions of non-employee directors. He will also review board meeting agendas and schedules with the chairman prior to distributing them to the board, which is currently comprised of Tillerson and 10 non-employee members.

Under the changes approved by the Exxon board, a presiding director will be selected by non-employee directors from among their members and will be expected to serve a minimum term of two years.

The board’s decision to alter its governance guidelines is likely a response to remarks made in May by members of the Rockefeller family, major Exxon shareholders. The Rockefellers had proposed that the company split the chairman and CEO roles. Exxon’s enhancement of the presiding director role is a means of meeting them halfway. The chairman and CEO stated it differently: “This demonstrates the board’s ongoing commitment to independence and the highest standards of corporate governance,” said Tillerson in a statement. “The board recognizes that corporate governance is of broad interest and has received input from a wide array of shareholders through the company’s ongoing engagement and dialogue efforts.”

Harry Pearce, chairman of Nortel Networks, is the founding chair of the forum. Spencer Stuart, the director and executive search consulting firm, will co-sponsor the event aimed at allowing U.S. and Canadian chairmen to share experiences, test opportunities for collective action on market issues, and form the core of a global network of chairmen organizations.

An estimated 35 percent of S&P 500 corporations have moved to implement a separate chairman rather than combining the job with that of CEO. The Millstein Center predicts that upswing will continue. Washington Mutual and Citigroup recently elected to separate the two positions. Last week, shareholders at ExxonMobil voted strongly in favor of adopting the independent chair model.

Pearce said the inaugural forum will consider endorsing policy guidance on the role of an independent chair in North America. The statement is being drafted by Pearce and Ira M. Millstein, senior associate dean for corporate governance at the Yale School of Management and senior partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

The Conference of Fund Leaders is a permanent body dedicated to peer collaboration among independent chairmen and lead directors of mutual funds. Stephen Davis, the project director, is also the editor of Global Proxy Watch, which is owned by Directorship.

That’s the crux of proxy item number five on its shareholder ballot to be voted at its annual meeting next month and the thrust of some of the current criticism lodged against the oil company’s board by descendants of John D. Rockefeller Jr., the founder of Exxon and Mobil progenitor, Standard Oil.

Writing a commentary in the Financial Times this morning, Rockefeller’s great-great-grandson, Peter O’Neill, and great-granddaughter, Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, argue in favor of a yes vote.

To make their case, O’Neill and Goodwin write on behalf of “70 other Rockefeller family members” arguing that “the role of the board is to provide independent oversight of the chief executive and the management team. Under the leadership of an independent chairman, the board should provide strategy direction and represent the best interests of the shareholders.”

The heirs note that both the Council of Institutional Investors and the Conference Board’s Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise favor the splitting of the two roles. RiskMetrics Group, Glass Lewis and Proxy Governance as well as CalPERS are advising ExxonMobil shareholders to vote for the proxy.

The Rockefellers have kept their opinions private, and call their decision to speak out against ExxonMobil’s current management and board as “not an easy decision.”

“We did so after nearly five years of patient and ultimately unsuccessful efforts, working behind the scenes to have an open, two-way dialogue with the company.”