Two major, iconic U.S. corporations that have struggled in recent years, this week announced they would go in very different directions on their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Boeing Co. has dismantled its global diversity, equity and inclusion department, making it the latest high-profile corporation to make changes to its DEI policy as its new top leader oversees a broader revamp of the company’s workforce.
Staff from Boeing’s DEI office will be combined with another human resources team focused on talent and employee experience, according to people familiar with the matter. Sara Liang Bowen, a Boeing vice president who led the now-defunct department, left the company on Thursday.
“The team achieved so much — sometimes imperfectly, never easily — and dreamed of doing much more still,” Bowen wrote, [without evidence,] in a farewell post on LinkedIn.
The report on Nike from Footwear News:
Nike has named Kizmet Mills as its new DEI chief, making her the fifth person to fill the role since 2020.
Nike elevated Mills, who has been with the company since 2016, from her role as senior director of global diversity equity and inclusion at Nike, the company confirmed to FN….
“At Nike, we strive to be leaders in fostering a strong culture of belonging and believe that the work of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team is critical to helping us achieve this mission,” Nike said in a statement. “Having held senior leadership roles within the company for more than eight years, Kizmet is well positioned to continue advancing Nike’s goals of championing all athletes.”
With her appointment, Mills becomes Nike’s fifth person to fill the role of DEI chief at Nike since 2020. When Loduca joined Nike from Twitter in March 2023, he replaced Nike’s former DEI chief Jarvis Sam, who left the company in November 2022, just six months into his role as chief DEI officer. Sam left at the time to launch his own DEI consulting and strategy group, The Rainbow Disruption. Prior to Sam, Felicia Mayo served as the company’s chief talent, diversity and culture officer for two years until August of 2022. Kellie Leonard was named Nike’s first head of diversity in 2018 and served in the role until 2020.
The short tenure of DEI chiefs at Nike reflects a broader trend. The average tenure of a chief diversity officer is just 2.9 years, according to a December report from board and leadership consulting firm Spencer Stuart. That ranks as the shortest tenure across all C-suite roles tracked by the firm, which found that the average total tenure across the C-suite was 4.6 years. In line with this trend, Colleen Mitchell exited Nordstrom after two years as its head of diversity, equity, inclusion earlier this month.
A share of Boeing costs $154.40 as of this posting, down from a near-high five years ago of $371.68 (and a brief hit at over $440 just months earlier). The decline coincides with the chairmanship of the recently departed Larry Kellner.
Nike’s share price as of this posting stands at $77.61, down from more than $177 three years ago.
Both companies replaced their CEOs in recent months.
Readers can decide for themselves which company is making the right decision.
