Number of Latinos on boards increases
U.S. publicly listed companies more than quadrupled the appointment of Latino executives to their boards in the first quarter, a step toward addressing ethnic and racial inequality across the top corporate ranks.
About 82 Latinos joined the boards of public companies between January and March, up from 19 in the same period a year ago, according to data from the Latino Corporate Directors Association released Friday. As many as 33 of those individuals are serving on a board for the first time.
States and organizations have been pushing hard to force big companies to improve diversity in the workplace, and particularly on boards. California passed a law in September that requires public companies based in the state to have at least one director from an under-represented minority group by the end of 2021. In December, Nasdaq filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would make it necessary for its 3,000-plus listed companies to have at least one female director and one from an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ group.
Putting outside pressure on the companies are campaigners such as LCDA that want to ensure fair representation of all races and ethnicities.
However, there’s more work to be done in terms of Latino representation. A report released in March by the LCDA showed that U.S. Latinos made up only 3 percent of Fortune 1000 board members in 2020 despite Latinos making up about a fifth of the country’s population.