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A group of senate Republicans decried Nasdaq’s push for greater diversity on corporate boards, saying it interfered with board members’ duty to govern in the best interests of shareholders and could harm financial performance. In a letter on Friday, all 12 Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to […]
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt new listing rules related to board diversity and disclosure. If approved by the SEC, the new listing rules would require all companies listed on Nasdaq’s U.S. exchange to publicly disclose consistent, transparent diversity statistics regarding their board of […]
Experts following the new statutes agree on two key points. First, California corporations have succeeded in finding women directors from diverse backgrounds in response to the 2018 statute, despite opponents’ assertions that boards would have difficulty identifying good nominees. As a result, they contend that boards won’t have trouble identifying other diverse candidates either. And […]
In addition to the recent litigation, efforts to advance board racial diversity have included legislation. Earlier this year, the California legislature passed a bill mandating the inclusion on boards of California headquartered companies of representatives of “underrepresented communities.” On September 30, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsome signed the bill into law. As discussed below, even […]
A federal judge in California is stoking controversy by pressing leaders in a class action against Robinhood Financial LLC to diversify by including more women or persons of color as counsel. It’s the latest effort to tackle what many advocates say is a persistent and significant problem in the profession–the predominance of mostly white male […]
Judge Donato, in an order Tuesday night, consolidated the cases – but rejected the leadership proposal. There was no doubt, he said, that Kaplan Fox and Cotchett would provide “highly professional and sophisticated representation” to the prospective class, given their “impressive history.” But Judge Donato said he was concerned that the proposed team lacked diversity. […]
In its new biennial study of the gender and ethnic makeup of Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 company boards, the Alliance for Board Diversity found that white men hold more than two-thirds of board seats in both groups. Women hold 20 percent of Fortune 100 board seats, and minorities, who comprise 37 percent of the […]
Little-known provision may have major impact on financial institutions that contract with agencies.