As diversity rises, US boards still disproportionately white

By STAN CHOE
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Following a pressure campaign from outsiders, more companies are disclosing the racial breakdowns of their boards of directors. Executive data firm Equilar on Thursday for the first time released a racial breakdown of boards for companies in the Russell 3000 index, which covers almost all U.S. stocks. It found only 2.7% of directors at the start of the year were Hispanic, versus 18.5% of the overall U.S. population. Just 6.2% were Black, versus 13.4% of the population. And the 5% of directors of Asian or Pacific islander descent also fell short of the population’s 6.1%.