Firms ‘Recycle’ Minority Directors, Study Says

U.S. corporate boards severely lack diversity, and companies “recycle” Latino and African American directors, who on average serve on more boards than nonminority directors, a new study showed Wednesday.

White men hold 71% of seats on Fortune 100 boards, the Alliance of Board Diversity said in its report based on directors holding seats last September.

Women and minorities collectively account for 29% of seats, with minorities holding 15% of seats, the group said.

Carolyn Chin, a director of the Chinese American group Committee of 100, which worked with the board diversity alliance, called the record “pathetic” for corporate America but said that signs pointed to change.

“With all the scandals and Sarbanes-Oxley [corporate accountability law], the fact that board members are aging, there is going to be a big move away from what we call male, pale, stale,” Chin said.

The report said there was also a lack of diversity among individual minority directors: Many work for more than one company. African American men hold an average of 1.6 board seats per person and Latino men hold 1.3 seats, compared with the average for all directors of 1.2.

Asian Americans have 1.1% of board seats, but are not “recycled,” with only 1.1 seats per person.

The Alliance for Board Diversity is a collaboration of advisory group Catalyst, the African American group Executive Leadership Council and the Hispanic Assn. for Corporate Responsibility.