The diversity of members of corporate boards in North Carolina has not significantly increased in recent years and lags the diversity of Fortune 500 boardrooms, according to data released by the UNC School of Law Director Diversity Initiative (DDI) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
As of Sept. 30, 2015, only 13.2 percent of board members of the 50 largest publicly traded corporations headquartered in North Carolina were female, up from the 12 percent reported in 2012. Board members of color constituted 9.1 percent of board members in 2015, compared to 7.1 percent in 2012. Twenty-three of the boards had at least 25 percent diverse membership (see table below for a list), up from 13 boards in 2012. Ten companies had no females or minorities on their boards, down from 12 in 2012.
N.C. Corporate Board Diversity Over Time
| 1992 News & Record | 2003 News & Record | 2006 UNC Data | 2009 UNC Data | 2012 UNC Data | 2015 UNC Data | |
| % Women Board Members | 4.3 | 10.1 | 11.2 | 12.2 | 12.0 | 13.2 |
| % Minority Board Members | 1.8 | 5.3 | 6.0 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 9.1 |
For Fortune 500 companies in 2015, 16.9 percent of board members were female and 13.3 percent were people of color 1.
For the first time, the DDI’s diversity study includes named executive officers as reported in the company’s proxy statement. This group includes the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and the next three most highly paid executive officers. At smaller companies, this group includes the CEO and the next two most highly paid executive officers. Females are 10.4 percent and people of color are 5 percent of the named executive officers reported in the proxy statements of the 50 largest NC publicly traded companies. Nine companies exceeded the 25 percent threshold for both diverse directors and diverse named executive officers. The names of those nine companies are bolded in the charts below.
| % Women Named Executive Officers | 10.4 | % Women Board Members | 13.2 |
| % Nonwhite Named Executive Officers | 5.0 | % Nonwhite Board Members | 9.1 |
The DDI selected the 50 NC companies from the list of the largest North Carolina companies ranked by market capitalization and reported in the August 2015 issue of Business North Carolina. The data is based on the director and named executive officers from the most recent proxy statement filed as of September 30, 2015. Directors and named executive officers may have changed since that time. The DDI also recognizes that many companies have an executive management team that is larger and more diverse than just the named executive officers reported in the proxy statement. Race and ethnicity were determined from publicly available sources and each company was asked to verify the information the DDI intended to report. The DDI stands ready to correct any errors.
Board diversity is important for a number of reasons, according to Lissa Broome, Wells Fargo Professor of Banking Law at UNC School of Law and director of the DDI.
“It is disappointing that North Carolina–based companies have not made more progress in their board and executive diversity. U.S. corporations used to lead the world in board diversity, but now they are falling behind as other countries such as Norway, France and Spain have imposed quotas to increase board gender diversity,” says Broome. “A diverse group can help avoid groupthink and bring new insights and ideas. Sometimes homogeneous groups get into too much of a comfort zone and would benefit from new thinking and viewpoints.”
Although Broome said she does not believe diversity quotas would be feasible in the United States, she said she hopes U.S. companies will embrace board diversity as strongly as they do employment diversity and voluntarily seek out talented female and minority board candidates.
View the full results of the 2015 survey and compare the results with DDI data from 2006, 2009, and 2012 at http://ddi.law.unc.edu/boarddiversity/.
About the DDI
The DDI conducts training for diverse potential board members, maintains a database of diverse board candidates, and helps companies identify board candidates who meet desired criteria and who would add diversity.
DDI Contact: Lissa Broome, 919.962.7066, lissa_broome@unc.edu
Media Contact: Amy Barefoot, 919.843.7148, abarefoot@unc.edu
Most Diverse N.C. Corporate Boards (as of 9/30/2015)
| Company |
% Women or People of Color Directors* |
| Cempra | 71.43 |
| Bank of America | 53.85 |
| Lending Tree | 42.86 |
| Reynolds American | 41.67 |
| BB&T | 38.89 |
| Premier | 37.50 |
| Lowes | 36.36 |
| V. F. Corporation | 36.36 |
| Hanesbrands | 36.36 |
| Piedmont Natural Gas | 36.36 |
| Chimerix | 36.36 |
| Duke Energy | 35.71 |
| Red Hat | 33.33 |
| PRA Health Sciences | 33.33 |
| Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated | 33.33 |
| Krispy Kreme Doughnuts | 30.00 |
| Martin Marietta Materials | 30.00 |
| Family Dollar Stores - Dollar Tree | 27.27 |
| Nucor | 25.00 |
| SPX | 25.00 |
| Snyders-Lance | 25.00 |
| Ingles Markets | 25.00 |
| Ply Gem | 25.00 |
*Women of color are counted as women and people of color
Most Diverse N.C. Named Executive Officers (as of 9/30/2015)
| Company |
% Women or People of Color Named Executive Officers* |
| Sealed Air | 80.00 |
| Cempra | 66.67 |
| Duke Energy | 60.00 |
| Lending Tree | 40.00 |
| Hanesbrands | 40.00 |
| Chimerix | 40.00 |
| Red Hat | 40.00 |
| Martin Marietta Materials | 40.00 |
| Family Dollar Stores - Dollar Tree | 40.00 |
| BioCryst Pharmaceuticals | 40.00 |
| Tanger Factory Outlet Centers | 40.00 |
| Reynolds American | 33.33 |
| Premier | 33.33 |
| PRA Health Sciences | 33.33 |
| Square 1 Financial | 25.00 |
*Women of color are counted as women and people of color
-June 9, 2016