Latino Voices for Boardroom Equity Furthers Diversity Efforts by Tracking California Companies With No Latino Board Representation

Latinos are largely left behind for a second quarter - holding only 2.3% of California public company board seats

News provided by

Latino Corporate Directors Association

Feb 23, 2021, 11:33 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Latino Corporate Directors Association and Latino Voices for Boardroom Equity, today released the Q4 2020 California Boardroom Equity Scorecard—a tool that gauges the impact of AB 979 by monitoring board composition by ethnicity and race. This information will allow Latinos and other underrepresented groups to measure the progress of their representation on California company boards.

In partnership with Equilar, LCDA tracked 607 new board appointments made by California public companies between July 1 to December 31, 2020. Latinos gained only 14 board seats filled between July 1 to December 31, 2020, while the large majority of seats, 434, went to White/Caucasian directors, 74 seats went to Asian/Pacific Islander directors, and 73 seats went to Black/African American directors.

"The California Boardroom Equity Scorecard & Tracker provides investors and shareholders with information on the board composition of California public corporations—identifying which companies have Latinos on their board of directors," said Roel Campos, Former SEC Commissioner and LCDA Chair. "A commitment to diversity and inclusion is incomplete without Latinos who are two in ten Americans and account for 25% of national GDP. Investors understand the business value and want corporate boards to better reflect their customers and employees."

The Q4 2020 Scorecard reveals that many California boards still lack diversity. At the end of Q4 2020, the boards of nearly one-third, 31.2%, of California public corporations were all White. Latinos hold only 2.3% of these board seats and 84.6% of California public company boards lack a Latino director, despite the fact that 39% of California's population is Latino.

"It is encouraging that there has been some progress, but I am concerned that one-third of California company boards still lack diversity. We in the California Legislature will continue to monitor appointments of directors from underrepresented communities under the requirements of AB 979 to better reflect California's population and the Nation. We greatly appreciate LCDA's quarterly updates provided by the California Boardroom Equity Scorecard and Tracker," stated Assemblymember Chris Holden.

"While I'm pleased that women are being appointed to California boards in greater numbers, there has not been enough progress for women of color. The large majority, 71.5%, of female appointments were White/Caucasian, 12% Asian/Pacific Islander, 12% Black/African American, but most alarmingly only 2.5% of women appointed to California boards were Latina, while we make up over 20% of the population. We have many qualified Latinas and women of color ready to serve on boards, who rise to the occasion. Plus, research tells us, it's in the companies' best interests to do better and be intentional in their search for diverse female candidates," said California Legislative Women's Caucus Chair, Assemblymember Cristina Garcia.

Latino Voices has written to request meetings with all California public companies that lack Latino directors. "The Latino Voices coalition serves as a resource to US public companies to connect them with ample board talent. We are encouraged by productive meetings to date and invite companies to engage with us," said Esther Aguilera, LCDA President and CEO.

ABOUT LCDA:
The Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA) is a national organization promoting C-level and board diversity to maximize business success. LCDA serves as an advocate and resource to corporate boards, search firms, private equity, and institutional investors interested in gaining access to exceptional Latino board talent. Our program areas focus on growing the supply of high-caliber boardroom candidates and providing quality corporate governance programming for experienced and aspiring directors.

ABOUT Latino Voices for Boardroom Equity:
In September 2020, LCDA launched Latino Voices for Boardroom Equity, in partnership with a growing list of national Latinos organizations including the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), UnidosUS, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), and the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC). This initiative asserts diversity without the inclusion of Latinos is not acceptable. The objective of the Latino Voices initiative is to triple US Latino representation on public company boards by 2023 by targeting corporations with no US Latino representation and tracking progress through the publication of a quarterly scorecard.