The New York State Common Retirement Fund’s 2022 proxy voting guidelines include more stringent board diversity expectations. In addition to its formerly adopted guidelines on board gender diversity, the Fund may* vote against Russell 1000 directors based on other board diversity demographics, as follows:
- All incumbent board nominees if there are no directors identifying as an underrepresented minority on the board
- All incumbent nominating committee nominees when a board does not have more than one director identifying as an underrepresented minority
- All incumbent nominating committee nominees that do not disclose the self-identified individual racial/ethnic diversity of their board directors
- All incumbent nominating committee nominees at companies that have not listed both gender and racial/ethnic diversity as explicit considerations in their search for directors
*Note that the Comptroller’s press release indicates that the Fund… “will vote against…,” whereas the guidelines state that the Fund “may withhold support from…”
According to the release, the Fund will vote against all incumbent S&P 500 Compensation Committee members if the company does not publicly disclose its EEO-1 data.
The release also discusses DEI-related shareholder proposals the Fund has filed this proxy season that address workplace DE&I reporting, board diversity, EEO-1 reporting, discrimination and sexual harassment disclosure, and racial equity audits.
See “N.Y. state comptroller discloses corporate governance diversity efforts” (Pensions & Investments) and additional resources on our Institutional Investors, Board Diversity, Proxy & Annual Reporting Season 2022, and Proxy & Annual Reporting Season 2021 pages.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!