Corporate board diversity gains in state, but lags Fortune 100, UNC study reports

Corporate boards in North Carolina are increasingly diverse, but not as much as the boards of Fortune 100 companies, report experts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.

Corporate boards in North Carolina are increasingly diverse, but not as much as the boards of Fortune 100 companies, report experts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.

Currently only 12.3 percent of board members of the largest 50 corporations headquartered in North Carolina are female. Seven percent of board members are minorities, according to the results of the most recent survey conducted by the UNC School of Law’s Director Diversity Initiative.

Only 16 of the boards had at least 25 percent diverse membership, the survey found. New to the most diverse list in 2009 were Salix Pharmaceuticals, Hanesbrands, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Polymer Group and Goodrich. Eleven companies, however, had no females or minorities on their boards, an improvement from 16 companies in 2006.

“Diversity is an important measure of how well board membership reflects the greater society. It also serves as an indicator of corporate leadership opportunities for women and minorities. These data show that large corporate boards in North Carolina are less diverse than the boards of companies on the Fortune 100 list,” says Lissa Broome, Wachovia Professor of Banking Law, director of the Center for Banking and Finance and initiative director.

According to a survey conducted by the Alliance for Board Diversity, as of 2006, 17.06 percent of Fortune 100 board members were female and 15.42 percent were minorities, Broome said.

The law school survey selected the 50 boards from the list of largest North Carolina companies ranked by market capitalization and reported in the August 2009 issue of “Business North Carolina.”

These results show an increase in diversity by gender, race and ethnicity since the last survey in 2006. Four years ago, women made up 11.2 percent of board members of the 50 largest North Carolina corporations and minorities held 6 percent of board seats.

To view the full results of the 2009 survey, visit https://ddi.law.unc.edu/boarddiversity. Results may be sorted by a number of factors, including alphabetically by company, by size of company, by female diversity and by minority diversity. (See end of release for a summary chart.)

In addition to conducting this survey, the diversity initiative conducts training for a diverse population of potential board members, maintains a database of candidates and helps companies identify board candidates who meet desired criteria and who would add diversity. The initiative will hold its fifth annual training program for potential, diverse directors, “Broadening Corporate Board Diversity: Earning a Board Seat” on June 1 at the Rizzo Center in Chapel Hill. The application is available at https://ddi.law.unc.edu/.

The work of the initiative is supported by grants from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the Fulfilling the Dream Fund: North Carolina Consortium.

School of Law expert contact: Lissa Broome, (919) 962-7066, lissa_broome@unc.edu
School of Law media contact: Katie Bowler, (919) 843-7148 or (919) 265-8648, kbowler@unc.edu
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, susan_houston@unc.edu

Survey Results Summary

Most Diverse N.C. Corporate Boards (as of 9/30/2009)

N.C. Corporate Board Diversity Over Time