The next frontier in DE&I: corporate board diversity

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has inspired individuals, corporations, and governments to think more broadly and critically about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives. Employers and their leadership teams are thinking beyond recruiting practices and developmental programs in an effort to spur meaningful and lasting change. Other groups, specifically the state of California and the NASDAQ, recently took steps to move the needle on diversity at corporations’ highest level—the board of directors.

State actions

Illinois, Maryland, and New York have enacted board diversity legislation requiring disclosure of the diversity status of board members. Colorado adopted a resolution encouraging corporations to increase representation of women on boards. California stands alone as the only state to mandate a required number of diverse board members.

In 2018, California became the first state to require that all publicly held companies with headquarters in the state, regardless of where they are incorporated, include at least one woman on their boards of directors by the end of 2019 and at least two women by the end of 2021 if the corporation has five directors and at least three women if the corporation has six or more directors.