Board Diversity Push Continues After California Mandate Struck

Public companies will keep facing pressure from stakeholders and the public to diversify their boards of directors despite a California court ruling that voided that state’s diversity requirement.

The ruling isn’t likely to have a significant impact on corporate board diversity trends, said Paul Washington, executive director of the Conference Board ESG Center. Institutional investors, employees, and customers have been pushing for corporate board diversity in the past few years, he said.

“There are other drivers of board diversity, quite apart from this legislation, that are not going away,” Washington said.

According to an October Conference Board analysis, 59% of ...