Leadership

Latino Corporate Directors Group Introduces Tracker to Highlight Diversity Gaps

The Latino Corporate Directors Association’s Latino Board Tracker highlights in stark terms the limited number of boards on the Fortune 1000 that have Latino representation—at a time when board diversity is a hot topic in Congress.

An association focused on improving Latino representation on corporate boards has launched a new tool to uncover gaps in the Fortune 1000.

And as the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCPA) notes, the gaps are quite apparent on its Latino Board Tracker. Out of the 1,000 companies on the list, just seven have more than two Latino board members of any gender, and just five have more than one Latina board member.

More than three-quarters don’t have any Latino representation at all.

(The companies with the best representation, including Triple-S Management and Popular, are based in Puerto Rico and Florida, territories and states with high Latino populations. But one well-known company that’s doing particularly well on this front is Target, which has three Latino board members—two of them women.)

Part of the issue, says LCDA CEO Esther Aguilera, is that corporate boards are not required to report this kind of diversity data. The association’s tracker is the first attempt to detect this data, she says, and LCDA is looking to keep updating that data over time.

“LCDA is filling a gap with the Latino Board Tracker because reporting by race and ethnicity is currently not required of corporate boards,” Aguilera said in a news release. “This tool is a baseline; it is our hope that boards and directors will surface with additional information about current board composition that will enable the most accurate data available.”

The new online tracker reflects an extension of the group’s existing annual reports, developed with the help of the board research firm Diversified Search, to also track the issue. The most recent such report [PDF], which goes through 2018, found an increase in the number of board seats taken up by Latino executives in recent years (a total of 10,166 on the Fortune 1000). However, 77 percent of boards still lacked any Latino representation.

The tracker also reflects a growing interest in tracking board diversity overall. Last fall, H.R. 5084, also known as the Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act of 2019, passed the House. The law would require the disclosure of diversity on corporate boards based on voluntary self-identification.

LCDA Board Chair Roel Campos says the goal of these efforts is to encourage corporate boards to take steps to change this state of affairs.

“The Latino Board Tracker is an important tool that will give companies and boards a way to measure their success in diversifying their boards with Latino talent,” he says.

(Ridofranz/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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