Target is  the latest company to agree to reduce directors’ term limits to one year. The move follows a heated proxy battle with activist investor William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management, which ended during the company’s annual meeting in May when Ackman’s attempt to capture five director seats was unsuccessful. “I think the change in term limits is a result of Ackman’s proxy fight,” says Ken Squire, founder and president of 13D Monitor, a research and advisory service specializing in shareholder activism.

Governance experts say it’s not uncommon for companies to revamp governance practices after activist investors attempt to take over board seats. “The timing might seem atypical,” says Patrick McGurn of RiskMetrics. “But it’s not unusual to see companies make over their governance practices after they go through a proxy fight.”

Yet Target’s recent decision is not expected to touch off an increase in the trend toward eliminating staggered board terms. “Companies aren’t going to unilaterally make this decision,” says Squire. “I think Target did this for [its] shareholders because shareholders pushed for it.” Target’s high approval rating from investors, who re-elected Target’s entire slate, provided a stable foundation for the company’s decision.

Switching to a yearly director election can make takeovers easier. And, with the change in how broker votes will be cast and the potential for proxy access to become a reality, more directors could find themselves at risk of losing their board seats. Timothy Smith of Walden Asset Management cautions that while the term limit may ignite concern, companies with yearly term limits often hold elections without incident. “Directors could argue that yearly elections make them vulnerable, but you can’t receive 51 percent of the vote against you unless you’re doing a really bad job.”

Kevin Martin joined Xtera Communication’s board. Martin served as chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from 2005 to 2009.

Cisco appointed Arun Sarin to its board. Arun previously served as CEO of Vodafone Group. Sarin also served on Cisco’s board from 1998-2003. He currently sits on the board of Safeway.

William C. Kunkler, executive vice president of CC Industries, was elected to Sears Holdings’ board. Kunkler also sits on the boards of Envestnet Asset Management, a financial services company, and NIBCO, a manufacturer of valves and fittings.

Roger D. Williams, former president of Bob Evans Farms, has been elected to the board at LecereTM, a developer of restaurant-management tools.

Coldwater Creek’s co-founder Dennis Pence will replace Daniel Griesemer, who has stepped down from his role as CEO after two years.

Iron Mountain named Per-Kristian Halvorsen, senior vice president and chief  innovation officer at  Intuit, to its board, bringing the number of directors of the company from nine to ten.

MSCI, a global provider of investment decision support tools, named Catherine R. Kinney to its board. Kinney retired from NYSE Euronext in March 2009 after 35 years in a variety of managerial positions with the company.

Richard Markee has been appointed CEO of Vitamin Shoppe. Markee has served as non-executive chairman of the board since 2007. He previously served as president of Babies “R” Us.

Shutterfly elected Brian Swette to its board. Swette, former chief operating officer at eBay, serves as non-executive chairman of Burger King and on several other boards.

David Ebersman, CFO of Facebook, has been appointed to Ironwood Pharmaceutical’s board. Ebersman previously was with Genentech from 1994-2009.

Bringing a wide range of experience from positions at DuPont Chemicals, UniRoyal, Applied Digital Solutions, and The Bay Group, Garrett Sullivan was recently named to EGPI Firecreek’s board. He is also the past president of Granada Hospital Group.

Steven Holtzman has joined Satori Pharmaceutical’s board. Holtzman is CEO and co-founder of Infinity Pharmaceuticals.

Premera Blue Cross elected Robert C. Wallace to its board. Wallace is CEO of Wallace Properties, a full-service commercial real estate company.

ZAGG, a publicly traded mobile and electronics company, has elected Ed Ekstrom to its board. Ekstrom is a founding partner of vSpringCapital. Prior to his work at vSpringCapital, he served as vice president of Intel Communications Products Group.

Fiona Dias, executive vice president, partner strategy and marketing for GSI Commerce, has been appointed to Advance Auto Parts’ board.

American Shared Hospital Services elected Ray Stachowiak to its board. Stachowiak is founder, president, and CEO of Shared Imaging, a provider of fixed-site and mobile magnetic resonance imaging systems.

UTi Worldwide has appointed Donald W. Slager to its board. Slager, who is CEO of Republic Services, will join the company’s compensation, nominations and corporate governance committees, and the recently established risk committee. UTi Worldwide is an international non-asset-based supply chain company that provides air and ocean freight forwarding.

MGM Mirage named Joseph H. Sugerman to its board. Sugerman is an otolaryngologist and an attending physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California.

Timothy R. Franson was elected to Myriad Pharmaceutical’s board. Franson was with Eli Lilly for more than 20 years and most recently served as vice president of global regulatory affairs.

BJ’s Restaurants appointed William L. Hyde to its board. Hyde is a 35-year veteran of the national restaurant business and has managed both private and publicly held restaurant companies during his career.

North Arrow Minerals appointed Blair Murdoch to its board, increasing the number of directors to five. Murdoch is chairman of Option-NFA.

Walter Energy has named Victor Patrick CEO. Patrick most recently served as vice chairman, CFO, and general counsel. George Richmond, formerly CEO of the company’s Jim Walter Resources subsidiary, has been named president and chief operating office of Walter Energy. Richmond has been with the company since 1978.

Acucela has appointed Glen Y. Sato to its board. Sato is a partner in the life sciences and corporate practice groups of law firm Cooley Godward Kronish LLP. Acucela is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on developing new treatments for blinding eye diseases.

Marc N. Casper has been appointed president, CEO, and a director of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Casper has been with the company in a variety of senior management capacities since 2001, most recently as executive vice president and COO. He succeeds Marijn E. Dekkers, who resigned to become CEO of Bayer AG, based in Germany.

Richard M. Smith, president and COO of BioScrip, has been named to the company’s board.

BackOffice Associates elected David Peterschmidt to its board. Peterschmidt was most recently CEO of Openwave Systems. He also serves on the boards of Savvis and LimeLight Networks.

Innospec, an international specialty chemicals company, has appointed Robert I. Paller to its board. He will serve on the nominating and governance commitee. Paller is currently of counsel to the law firm of Smith, Gambrell & Russell.

Ackman launched a proxy battle against Target last spring after it rejected Pershing’s proposal to convert Target owned land into a publicly traded real estate trust. “He wanted to monetize Target’s assets,” says Leon Nicholas, director of retail insight at consultancy MVI. “He wanted to treat them like pieces on a chess board.”

Other shareholder groups did not join in the fight despite a recommendation from RiskMetrics that shareholders vote onto the board two of the dissident slate of five:  Ackman and Jim Donald. No candidate received more than 25 percent of the vote.

“This proxy fight was flawed from the beginning,” says Charles Elson, professor at University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business and Economics. “He happened to pick the wrong company at the wrong time.” Like many companies, Target has struggled because of the unsteady economy. However, the governance and profit issues usually associated with lengthy proxy battles are not apparent in this case. “Why take a gamble on a company like Target?” asks Elson. “Ackman needed a stronger track record to gain the support needed to overthrow an incumbent board…Target didn’t fit the bill.”

Target’s board won more than 70 percent of the vote, according to CEO Gregg Steinhafel. Target also voted to keep the board at 12 seats, instead of the 13 proposed by Ackman, who heads Pershing Square Capital Management LP and controls the third-largest stake in the company.

Ackman nominated himself and four other candidates to the Target board in March, saying the current board lacks experience and expertise in credit cards, real estate, and groceries. He believes the board has failed to position itself well for the recession.

Shareholders re-elected Richard Kovacevich, chairman of Wells Fargo & Co.; Mary Dillon, global chief marketing officer at McDonald’s Corp.; George Tamke, a partner at private-equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; and Solomon Trujillo, former CEO of Telstra, an Australian telecommunications company.

Pershing Square, which is invested exclusively in Target and owns a 7.8 percent stake in the company, has called for two of the company’s directors to resign from the board. Ackman, along with four other nominees, is attempting to push his way into the Target board, which itself is running four incumbent directors for re-election at Target’s May 28 annual general meeting.

According to Pershing Square, Target’s senior management and directors have unloaded about $430 million worth of company stock over the last five years.

Target shares are down about 39 percent from their peak price of $70 in July 2007; Ackman lost $1.6 billion in investor money due to the stock’s poor performance. Ackman’s funds possess about 3.3 percent of Target, with call options for an additional 4.5 percent.

One of Ackman’s arguments for director change cites the positive performance of fellow retail giant Wal-Mart through the recession. “Since the fourth quarter of 2007, Wal-Mart has outperformed Target on key operating metrics, including growth in retail revenues, same-store sales, and earnings per share,” said Ackman in a letter to shareholders.

Ackman has a history of disruptive proxy moves, including a successful bid in 2006 for fast-food chain Wendy’s to sell its Tim Horton’s branch. His new slate of directors at Target will include himself.

Target said its board believes that the retailer’s shareholders should re-elect the four current directors whose terms expire at this year’s annual meeting.

In a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ackman argued that his candidates will expand the board’s expertise in retail, credit cards, and real estate sectors.

Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund holds a 7.8 percent stake in the Minneapolis-based company’s stock. Target reported a 41 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit in February, and has trailed behind rival Walmart.

Pershing Square has nominated Ackman, as well as Winthrop Realty Trust CEO Michael Ashner, former Starbucks CEO Jim Donald, law professor Ronald Gilson, and Richard Vague, the former chairman and CEO of First USA, to replace those directors whose terms expire

Target’s current board is comprised of Mary Dillon, global chief marketing officer of McDonald’s; Wells Fargo & Co. Chairman Richard Kovacevich; George Tamke, partner with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; and Telstra CEO Solomon Trujillo.

Pershing’s fifth candidate is running for the seat left vacant by the departure of former Chairman and CEO Robert Ulrich, who resigned from the board on Jan. 31.

A deferred compensation program designed to retain top talent and reward longevity means the outgoing CEO of Target has accumulated more than $140 million in deferred benefits over his four decades at the discount retailer, according to a filing with U.S. securities regulators.

Robert Ulrich, who began working at what is now the second largest discount retailer after Wal-Mart 41 years ago, will reach Target’s mandatory retirement age of 65 this month, is slated to retire as chief executive on May 1.

Ulrich will remain chairman of the board. Gregg Steinhafel, who joined Target in 1979 and is now its president, will succeed him as CEO.

In a regulatory filing, Target said Ulrich received much of his compensation in the mid-1980s and into the 1990s, amassing $140.79 million in accumulated savings, earnings and supplemental pension benefits, it said. The total represents money held in a combination of two plans. One of the plans was frozen to new deferrals in 1996.

To create the top 20 and theoverall list of most admired companies, Fortune survey partner, the Hay Group,asked 3,721 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded toindustry surveys to select the 10 companies they admired most. They were askedto choose from a list made up of the companies that ranked in the top 25 percent inlast year’s survey, plus those that finished in the top 20 percent of their industry.

Anyone could vote for any company in any industry. The difference in the votingrolls is why some results can seem anomalous, for example, Johnson &Johnson is one of the top 10 most admired companies but only second in its ownindustry. In all, 622 companies in 65 industries were surveyed.

The top 20:

1. Apple
2. Berkshire Hathaway    
3. GeneralElectric
4. Google
5. Toyota Motor
6. Starbucks
7. FedEx
8. Procter& Gamble
9. Johnson& Johnson
10. GoldmanSachs
11. Target
12. SouthwestAirlines
13. AmericanExpress
14. BMW
15. CostcoWholesale
16. Microsoft
17. UnitedParcel Service
18. CiscoSystems
19. 3M
20. Nordstrom