Nearly two-thirds of companies in the Russell 3000 index lacked a Black director in 2020, according to data analyzed by Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy adviser. The year before, about 70% didn’t have one. But the recent clamor for greater racial justice and increased investor pressure has convinced many U.S. businesses they need to reshape…
Tag: board diversity
Carlyle Ties Loans to Board Diversity – The New York Times
Today, the private equity firm Carlyle will announce a $4.1 billion credit facility for its portfolio companies that ties the price of debt to the diversity of a company’s board. The facility, which the firm says is the largest of its kind in the U.S., is part of an “integrated approach to building better businesses,”…
Celebrities Land in the Boardroom. Here’s How Companies Make It Work. – WSJ
Pop star Ciara Wilson’s meteoric career has traveled a familiar arc—first a string of hits, then a fragrance brand and a fashion line. Now the Grammy-winning singer is taking on a role that has become increasingly popular among entrepreneurial-minded celebrities: corporate director. Announced Thursday, Ms. Wilson’s appointment to the board of Seattle marketing-tech company Amperity…
Black representation at top of FTSE 100 companies falls to zero | Financial Times
The number of black people at the top of Britain’s biggest listed companies has fallen to zero, despite public commitments to increase diversity in leadership. Research by Green Park, a recruitment and diversity consultancy, shows that no black chairs, chief executives or chief financial officers remain at any FTSE 100 company, following a change of…
State Street to insist companies disclose diversity data | Financial Times
State Street’s $3.1tn investment arm will start voting against directors of big companies that fail to disclose the racial and ethnic make-up of their boards, a move that will increase the mounting pressure on corporations to diversify their leadership. For this year, the Boston-based asset manager is only calling on companies to report the information….
Comment From Doug Chia on NASDAQ Board Diversity Proposal
Doug Chia‘s comment on the NASDAQ proposal for board diversity disclosure is well worth reading in full (see below). An excerpt; Nasdaq’s proposed rules are purely disclosure-based. The new rules would require listed companies to disclose information about the gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation of their boards.1 This is disclosure about a board’s diversity or lack thereof. It would…
Equity in the Boardroom: Majority Action and SEIU
Majority Action and SEIU have produced an excellent new report on board diversity, in full below. Highlights of findings and recommendations: Of the 178 S&P 500 companies that had no Black directors as of their 2020 annual meetings, BlackRock voted to support the entire board at 163 companies and Vanguard voted to support the entire…
VEA Vice Chair Quoted on Nasdaq’s proposed new diversity requirements.
Corporate governance expert and vice chair of ValueEdge Advisors Nell Minow said the proposed Nasdaq rules are just one step in the right direction. “It’s about time that the exchanges started stepping up to the plate on some of these issues. They’re in a much better position to address all kinds of corporate governance issues…
Nasdaq Proposes Board-Diversity Rule for Listed Companies – WSJ
Nasdaq Inc. aims to require listed companies to include women and people of diverse racial identities or sexual orientation on their boards, a move that could prompt change at hundreds of companies. The exchange operator filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require listed companies to have at least one woman…
Qualcomm’s corporate board sued for lack of diversity, failure to appoint Black directors – The San Diego Union-Tribune
A Qualcomm shareholder has sued the company’s corporate directors for failing to bring Blacks onto the board or into top executive roles while repeatedly touting diversity efforts in public. The lawsuit, which comes in the wake of widespread Black Lives Matter protests over racial inequality, is one of three shareholder derivative legal actions recently filed…
