As critics contend that Apple’s Board of Directors could use a few less white male faces sitting on it, the company vows to find someone besides white guys to sit on their board.
The company recently made a small tweak to its corporate charter vowing to diversify its board, following criticism from shareholders Trillium Asset Management LLC and the Sustainability Group, according to Bloomberg. Specifically, the groups have taken issue with the fact that only one woman, former Avon CEO Andrea Jung, serves on Apple’s board.
Reports say the two groups have met with Apple representatives a number of times over the past few months, and were planning on bringing their concerns before shareholders for a possible vote at the company’s February 28 shareholder meeting. Those plans have been dropped, following Apple’s revision of its corporate charter to say it would consider both women and minorities as board candidates.
Other than Jung, Apple’s board of directors contains nothing but white guys. These include Apple CEO Tim Cook, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, and board chairman Arthur D. Levinson. Other members of the board are Intuit Chairman Bill Campbell, J. Crew Chief Executive Millard Drexler, Walt Disney Company CEO Robert A. Iger, and former CEO of Northrop Grumman Ronald D. Sugar.
To be fair, the situation is not exactly unique among Fortune 500 companies, as Bloomberg notes that just 17% of board seats at those companies are held by women, while 15% of chief executives are female.
Apple will be diversifying their executive team later this year, when Angela Ahrendts will join the company in the newly created role of Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores. Ahrendts will be the only woman in a senior leadership role at Apple.
