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It’s called an interlocking directorate[1] and is why a lot of access to power and capital is class based and not meritocratic. It’s also part of why C level pay has skyrocketed as the members of the boards all happen to have C level positions and they all end up approving the pay increases of the people who get to vote on their pay increases

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlocking_directorate

I once heard a joke that, in the right environment "If you know what you're doing and show a little enthusiasm, you'll wind up on 6 boards before you can turn around and realize what's happening".

It makes sense that certain types of people would wind up on a lot of boards very quickly.

> It's like there's a breed of person who is just "board member".

Typically known as "capitalists", the bourgeoisie, the 1%, etc.

I like the term "Oligarchic kingmakers".

> the 1%

How many are they again?

I doubt there are millions of them on the US.

When many people say 1%, they're really thinking of the .01% or less.

More like 0.1% or less.