In the Press
May 20, 2021

Goodwin Clients Push to Diversify Public Company Boards (Bloomberg Law)

Goodwin is teaming up with investment and venture capital firms to try to diversify the boards of publicly-traded companies. Stuart Cable and Lisa Haddad, partners in Goodwin’s M&A practice, created an annual program called GOOD Directors that begins virtually this summer for about two dozen women and minorities — one third of whom are Black. The goal is to have each participant on a board within a year. “We want to help jump start board careers,” Cable said in an interview. The lawyers and their clients are trying to put a dent in figures that show white people hold 84% of Fortune 500 board seats, based on a January 2021 Society for Human Resources Management study. Blacks hold only 4.1% of board seats in the top 3,000 companies, and Latino representation is at 2.2%, the study found. “Studies and data have consistently shown diversity in the boardroom brings critical new perspectives and enhances Board and company performance,” Haddad said. Read the Bloomberg Law story here.