Three years ago, nearly every major US company explicitly considered diversity when choosing new directors. Now, most don’t.
In all, 61 S&P 100 companies have dumped explicit diversity criteria for future board members since 2023, according to an ESGAUGE analysis of filings and governance documents for Bloomberg News. The findings show the extent of the retreat from diversity, equity and inclusion into corporate boardrooms.
Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. have all eliminated diversity provisions for directors in the last three years. A conservative activist investor had previously identified companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., American Express Co., Johnson & Johnson and Deere & Co. as having dropped such criteria, but the new data provide a broader picture of the shift.
“It’s always easier to tear something down than it is to build it up,” said Heather Spilsbury, chief executive officer of 50/50 Women on Boards, which advocates for gender parity in the boardroom.
The pullback began in 2023 and accelerated over the past year as the Trump administration moved to dismantle DEI programs across federal agencies, universities and government contractors. ESGAUGE, which analyzes corporate filings, identified companies that had explicitly referenced gender, race, ethnicity, minorities or underrepresented groups in board-selection criteria and then tracked which had removed that language.
