Board Diversity Increased in 2021. Some Ask What Took So Long.
The New York Times
Some executives say corporate boards have often overlooked qualified women and nonwhite people. That may be changing.
Paula T. Hammond is a pioneering chemical engineer who has researched cancer and other illnesses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for years. Her work, people in her field said, makes her a natural pick to sit on the board of a pharmaceutical or biotechnology company.
Yet it was only in 2020 that Dr. Hammond, who is Black and heads the chemical engineering department at her university, became a director of a publicly traded company. “That was my first time being approached to sit on a public board,” she said.
With their ability to steer companies’ biggest decisions and pick key executives, boards wield crucial power in American business and society. They have long been overwhelmingly white and male. Executives and recruiters have often complained that there aren’t enough women and nonwhite people qualified to be directors, a phenomenon often described as a “pipeline” problem.
