Last month, we highlighted the drastic pullback in board diversity disclosures early in this shareholder season. With nearly 2,500 Russell 3000 companies publishing their proxy statements, today we’re providing a more comprehensive look at board disclosure trends.
Overall, there has been an unprecedented retreat from companies across industries and sizes, with the general state of board demographic transparency back to where it was in 2021. Many companies are erring on the side of extreme caution, removing not just disclosure but any and all language having to do with diversity.
In addition removing disclosures, we have seen a drastic change in policy—at this time last year, roughly half of S&P 500 companies had a board diversity policy (aka Rooney Rule), with active language stating they prioritize diverse (women and people of color) candidates when recruiting new board members. So far this year, only a quarter of companies have a diverse slate commitment, with over 100 S&P 500 companies dropping that commitment from last year.
Visit this link to download the full whitepaper with a detailed look at trends over the past 6 years, but here are the highlights:
Disclosure of aggregate racial/ethnic composition by Russell 3000 companies was just 19.3% in 2020; by 2024, 26.1% Russell 3000 companies were disclosing the race/ethnicity of each individual director in 2024. However, aggregate race/ethnicity disclosure fell from 89.4% in 2024 to just 49.0%
The share of Russell 3000 companies disclosing any quantitative measure of board diversity rose from 45.1% in 2020 to 93.3% in 2024. In 2025, that share fell to 58.6%, below where it stood in 2021 (63.3%)
79.1% of Nasdaq-listed companies decreased their level of disclosure from 2024, while only 1.2% increased transparency
The share of S&P 1500 companies disclosing the aggregate share of LGBTQ+ directors fell from 30.4% in 2024 to just 8.6% in 2025
A few months ago, there were whispers that the government would not collect eeo-1 data this year, the intersectional workforce diversity data required to be reported to the government by employers with 100+ employees (or federal contractors with 50+)—there is precedent as the data was not collected during Covid, and 2 years of data was collected in 2021.
Now, it appears the data collection will happen, with the filing window tentatively schedule to open May 20.
We have continued to see companies disclose (or commit to disclose) for the first time in 2025 (Molina Health, Brown & Brown), as well as reiterate their commitment to continuing to make the data available publicly.
However, there are several large companies (for example Nvidia and GM) that stopped disclosing the data, and others that removed historical documents from their corporate sites. Similar to board disclosures, we have gone from barely any large companies making eeo-1 data public to it being nearly ubiquitous—10.6% of S&P 500 companies in 2020 to 83% today—so we are keeping a close eye on how this plays out over the next couple of months.
With increased transparency on the makeup of their boards and policies and strategies to increase the share of women and people of color, we saw huge jumps in board diversity at large companies since 2020—white men are now a minority of S&P 500 boards, whereas they made up 57.5% of board seats in 2020 and 67.2% in 2016
However, progress somewhat plateaued over the past couple of years, and with companies now retreating from demographic diversity and focused on broader measures of diversity (skills, experience, thought), it’s unclear whether the upward trends will continue.
What we’re reading:
- Gutting DEI? Not So Fast, Say B-School Applicants (Bloomberg)
- The Evolving Role of the CHRO in the Boardroom (Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance)
- Individual Investor Interest in Sustainable Investing Remains Strong (Morgan Stanley)
- Global Policy Outlook Series: ESG & Corporate Responsibility Outlook, H1 2025 (Morning Consult)
- The revealing shift in who reports the gender pay gap (Financial Times)
- Despite DEI backlash, only 19% of companies are cutting diversity funding (Fast Company)
- Global Perspectives: The evolving state of ESG (Janus Henderson)
- Trump’s Scrutiny Spurs Employers to Consider Social Class in DEI (Bloomberg Law)