Overview
- Spencer Stuart reported that only 40% of new independent directors named to S&P 500 boards in the past year were women or racial minorities, the lowest share since 2014.
- Overall board diversity remains near recent highs with about 49.3% of seats held by women or racial minorities, a level that reflects earlier appointment waves rather than current hiring patterns.
- Major asset managers have reduced or removed explicit diversity expectations, easing investor pressure on companies to disclose or use diversity criteria in director searches.
- The Trump administration has issued orders and directed regulatory scrutiny of DEI programs, and enforcement actions such as IBM’s $17 million settlement show the risk companies face for noncompliance.
- Boards are shifting toward appointing current and former CEOs, who made up 37% of new directors this year, a move that reduces diversity because the CEO talent pool is less diverse and threatens to reverse gains from recent social-movement-driven hiring waves.