The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Mon, 20 Jul 2026 11:32:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png Activism and Board Diversity – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 Activism and Board Diversity https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2017/09/29/activism-and-board-diversity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=activism-and-board-diversity https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2017/09/29/activism-and-board-diversity/#comments Fri, 29 Sep 2017 13:41:26 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=101751?d=20170929094126EDT Posted by David A. Katz & Laura A. McIntosh, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, on Friday, September 29, 2017
Editor's Note:

David A. Katz is partner and Laura A. McIntosh is consulting attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. This post is based on a Wachtell Lipton publication by Mr. Katz and Ms. McIntosh which originally appeared in the New York Law Journal.

Activism at public companies can reduce board diversity, or it can increase it, depending on the circumstances. In recent years, activist hedge funds have installed dissident nominees who collectively have trailed the S&P 1500 index significantly in terms of gender and racial diversity. In contrast, institutional shareholders and asset managers are promoting board diversity to an unprecedented extent, with concerted public efforts already producing results. Several institutional investor initiatives, announced earlier this year, and the New York Comptroller’s Boardroom Accountability Project 2.0, announced earlier this month, may be game-changing initiatives on the path to greater board diversity.

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