On the heels of recent events, Calvert President & CEO John Streur joined the chorus of many who have spoken out publicly against racial inequality, noting the investor's plans to call on companies to disclose their board and management racial diversity, as well as race and gender pay equity disclosure.
In his recent post: "Corporations and investors must do more to combat racism," Streur comments in part:
Although Calvert has been a leader in dealing with inequality and pushing corporate boards to establish greater diversity, we have not done enough. As CEO of Calvert and a part of the system, I recognize that much more needs to be done. More open and forceful action is required by investors and by corporate leaders and boards.
According to Bloomberg Law, Calvert is among several institutional investors that will be looking to companies for greater transparency on their diversity practices. Trillium Asset Management and Boston Trust Walden also told Bloomberg that they will be ramping up their efforts to promote racial diversity practices and policies disclosure in the coming year. In that regard, in addition to self-evaluating their practices and policies, companies should be prepared for requests for engagement and disclosure - and an increasing number of shareholder proposals - on these topics.
See also "Recognizing and rooting out racism: Advice for leaders" (Journal of Accountancy) and "Investor groups ponder further action on racial inequality" (IR Magazine). Additional diversity resources are available on our Human Capital, Board Diversity and our other Practical Resources pages. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!