As NLPC explained earlier this month, we withdrew shareholder proposals we had submitted to American Express and Deere & Company, in which we requested their respective boards to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion criteria for director nominees. This week Bloomberg reported on the developments at both companies, as well as our efforts on the issue at a few others:
American Express signed an agreement in October with the nonprofit National Legal and Policy Center, an activist shareholder that opposes DEI programs at companies, according to a letter viewed by Bloomberg News. Deere made changes to its bylaws that came after a shareholder proposal was filed to seek their removal, said Paul Chesser, director of the NLPC’s Corporate Integrity Project. The group opted not to pursue the topic with Johnson & Johnson after the company verified it had already made the change, Chesser said…
“They already see the DEI wave has gone in the opposite direction,” said Chesser…
Goldman [Sachs] is expected to remove race, gender identity, sexual orientation and other diversity factors from the measures its board considers when nominating directors…
The NLPC also approached Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive Co. about the use of DEI criteria in board selection, Chesser said. Discussions with Johnson & Johnson determined the health care company’s policy was already changed, while Colgate-Palmolive hasn’t issued a formal response, he said. Colgate currently lists (as of the date of this posting) “race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and cultural background” among potential director criteria.
Read the full article at Bloomberg here.
(Image above created via Grok AI)
