New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer has partnered with California’s State Comptroller Betty Yee to urge companies and investors to “take action” on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues.
The pair, which together manage $624 billion of assets, penned a letter to 19 peers – including New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Connecticut State Treasurer Denise Nappier and Jagdeep Singh Bachher, Vice President of Investments at the University of California (see full list below) – asking them to review their policies and practices to ensure that “efforts to promote diversity are inclusive of the LGBT community”.
“We view board diversity, with LGBT inclusion, as integral to our fiduciary duties”
The letter also encourages firms and investors to use resources to help appoint board members from the LGBT community, such as dedicated databases that identify prospective candidates.
“We are proud that the funds we serve have adopted corporate governance policies and proxy voting guidelines that call on companies to recruit diverse boards, with diversity explicitly defined to include the LGBT community,” the letter states.
“We want the best directors who possess a range of expertise and experience to serve on the corporate boards of the companies in which we invest. That is why we view board diversity, with LGBT inclusion, as integral to our fiduciary duties.”Last month, Stringer revised the New York City Retirement Systems’ guidelines on corporate governance principles and proxy-voting, adding a greater focus on LGBT inclusion on boards. Yee is a board member at both California pension giants, CalPERS and CalSTRS.
Recipients:
- Kurt Summers, Chicago City Treasurer
- Chris Brown, Houston City Controller
- Denise Nappier, Connecticut State Treasurer
- Michael Frerichs, Illinois State Treasurer
- Joseph Kelly, Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector
- Nancy Kopp, Maryland State Treasurer
- Deborah Goldberg, Massachusetts State Treasurer
- Mark Dayton, Governor of Minnesota
- Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller
- Janet Cowell, North Carolina State Treasurer
- Ted Wheeler, Oregon State Treasurer
- Timothy Reese, Pennsylvania State Treasurer
- Rasheia Johnson, Philadelphia City Treasurer
- Seth Magaziner, Rhode Island General Treasurer
- Dan McAllister, San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector
- James McIntire, Washington State Treasurer
- Beth Pearce, Vermont State Treasurer
- Malia Cohen, San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System Board President
- Jagdeep Singh Bachher, Chief Investment Officer, University of California
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