New York City Comptroller's Office Michael Garland and Rhonda Brauer posted this summary of and update on the status of the Boardroom Accountability Project 2.0 board diversity-focused campaign.
Here is a noteworthy excerpt:
"The initial response rate to the Boardroom 2.0 engagement letters has been extremely high, a significant validation the underlying theory of proxy access, and the resulting engagements have been overwhelmingly positive. Through March 2018, the Comptroller’s Office has had meaningful engagements with over half of the companies, with many more engagements on the horizon, and has withdrawn some matrix proposals.
Director engagements have gone particularly well, with directors often pushing their management teams to go further in terms of their board refreshment processes and proxy statements disclosures. We have had meaningful director discussions on:
- the qualifications that they want to have around their boardroom tables and how that relates to the company businesses and long-term strategies they have a fiduciary duty to oversee;
- how they seek out all or most director candidates from pools that include women and persons of color (the so-called “Rooney Rule” of corporate governance);
- how robust their board evaluation processes are, including how they evaluate each director individually in terms of their ongoing capability and availability to continue to serve and be nominated for election each year; and
- the importance of gender and racial diversity, among other types of diversity, to avoiding “group-think” in their boardrooms. These discussions have included not only examples of how they have increased such diversity on their boards (often with first-time directors), but also the ongoing sensitive nature of race discussions that remain in their boardrooms, corporate America, and our society at large."
We have addressed this campaign extensively in past Society Alert reports, and Riches and Huddle posts, e.g.:
-
NYC Comptroller Launches Boardroom Accountability 2.0: Targets Board Composition & Refreshment
-
NYC Comptroller Calls for Data & Involvement on Board Composition, Refreshment
- NYC Comptroller Boardroom Accountability Project 2.0 Considerations
- NYC Comptroller's Office Elaborates on Boardroom Accountability 2.0 Campaign
In addition to those reports, you may access additional information and resources via the 2.0 Community and on our Institutional Investors topical page.