New York City Comptroller Stringer And California Controller Yee Urge Pension Funds To Join Push For Greater LGBT Board Diversity

NEW YORK CITY and SACRAMENTO – On Thursday, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and California State Controller Betty T. Yee released a jointly-written letter urging 19 fiduciaries of public pension funds to embrace policies and practices that promote board diversity inclusive of the LGBT community. CalPERS, CalSTRS, and the New York City Pension Funds have corporate governance policies and proxy voting guidelines that encourage companies to recruit diverse boards and explicitly include the LGBT community in their definition of diversity.

“Diversity is not just a social value, it is a bottom-line consideration that affects our entire investment portfolio,” Comptroller Stringer said. “If we want to drive long-term shareowner value, we need to ensure that the directors of the 10,000 publicly-held companies owned by the City’s pension funds reflect the society in which we live and that includes the LGBT community. I look forward to working with my fellow pension fund leaders to encourage boards to be more inclusive and to take meaningful steps to welcome individuals with a diversity of experience, skills, and background.”

“In our modern global economy, diverse board members bring a broad array of experience and skills in overseeing company strategy, risk mitigation, and management effectiveness. Increasingly, board diversity is critical to decision-making and long-term value creation,” said Controller Yee, California’s chief fiscal officer and CalPERS and CalSTRS board member. “As we have seen in every other aspect of the economy, human diversity is not just about fairness – it leads to better performance and results.”

Visible LGBT leadership from the top down is key to creating supportive and inclusive work environments. Yee and Stringer pointed to a recent Credit Suisse study indicating that LGBT-embracing companies deliver 10 percent higher return on equity.

To read the full text of the letter and the list of pension funds that received it, please click here.

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