Jared Landaw is COO and General Counsel at Barington Capital Group LP. This post is based on a Conference Board publication. Related research from the Program on Corporate Governance includes Politics and Gender in the Executive Suite by Alma Cohen, Moshe Hazan, and David Weiss (discussed on the Forum here).
Introduction
In recent years, publicly traded companies in the United States have faced increasing pressure to improve diversity on their corporate boards. Influenced by state legislation as well as the efforts of institutional investors and other diversity advocates, companies are recruiting more female directors than ever before. Approximately 45 percent of the directors added to the boards of companies in the Russell 3000 during the 2019 proxy season were women, up from 12 percent in 2008. The percentage of new directors who are minorities is also increasing, although at a significantly slower rate, with approximately 15 percent of the directors added to the boards of Russell 3000 companies during the 2019 proxy season belonging to a racial or ethnic minority group.
One of the central arguments cited for improving the diversity of demographic characteristics such as gender, race, and ethnicity on corporate boards is that such diversity is necessary to ensure that boards are able to perform their obligations effectively in today’s competitive business landscape. In calling for an increase in gender diversity on boards, Ronald P. O’Hanley of State Street Global Advisors stated, “In a more complex, innovation-driven environment, embracing a diversity of thinking, competencies, and backgrounds is a business imperative.” David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, expressed a similar sentiment when announcing that, beginning July 1, 2020, Goldman Sachs will not take a company public unless it has at least one diverse board member: “I come from a position of my own experience where I look at the Goldman Sachs board. We have four women out of eleven. We have a black lead director. And I really value the diverse perspectives I’m getting which are helping me run the company.”
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Response Letter to Statement Announcing SEC Staff Roundtable on Emerging Markets
More from: Jeffrey Mahoney, Council of Institutional Investors
Jeffrey P. Mahoney is General Counsel at the Council of Institutional Investors. This post is based on a CII letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Via Email
July 8, 2020
The Honorable Jay Clayton
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street NE
Washington, DC 20549-1090
Re: July 9 Roundtable on Emerging Markets
Dear Mr. Chairman:
I am writing in response to the May 4 “Statement Announcing SEC Staff Roundtable on Emerging Markets” soliciting “views on the risks of investing in emerging markets, including China.”
The Council of Institutional Investors (CII) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association of U.S. public, corporate and union employee benefit funds, other employee benefit plans, state and local entities charged with investing public assets, and foundations and endowments with combined assets under management of approximately $4 trillion. Our member funds include major long-term shareowners with a duty to protect the retirement savings of millions of workers and their families, including public pension funds with more than 15 million participants—true “Main Street” investors through their pension funds. Our associate members include non-U.S. asset owners with about $4 trillion in assets, and a range of asset managers with more than $35 trillion in assets under management.
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