The Corporate Counsel Blog informs us that:
In response to this new GAO report on board gender diversity, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) sent a letter to SEC Chair White earlier this month urging amendments to the proxy statement rules to require that companies disclose each board nominee’s gender, race, and ethnicity – as was proposed by nine large public pension funds in a March 2015 petition to the SEC.
That petition seeks this amendment to Item 407(c)(2)(v) of Regulation S-K (proposed new text underlined):
Describe any specific minimum qualifications that the nominating committee believes must be met by a nominating committee-recommended nominee for a position on the registrant’s board of directors, and describe any specific qualities or skills that the nominating committee believes are necessary for one or more of the registrant’s directors to possess. When the disclosure for this paragraph is presented in a proxy or information statement relating to the election of directors, these qualities, along with the nominee’s gender, race, and ethnicity should be presented in a chart or matrix form.
At the risk of committing one or more micro-aggressions, I can't help but note that the Rep. Carolyn Maloney's list of qualities to be disclosed is several generations of politically correct/multicultural thought behind the times. Here at UCLA, for example, we define diversity to include:
- race
- color
- national origin
- religion
- sex
- gender identity
- pregnancy
- physical or mental disability
- medical condition (cancer-related or genetic characteristics)
- genetic information (including family medical history)
- ancestry
- marital status
- age
- sexual orientation
- citizenship
- service in the uniformed services (as defined by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994)
- status as a covered veteran
Maybe Rep. Maloney needs to attend a diversity workshop.
