Revealed: DEI Champions Driving Change in the Boardroom

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) has announced the five winners of its 2022’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Awards, driving much-needed change in the boardroom.

The awards, from the US authority on boardroom practices, recognise boards that have improved their governance and created long-term value for stakeholders by implementing forward-thinking DE&I practices. Paramount Global, AMN Healthcare, AtriCure Inc, TIAA, and The Association of Corporate Counsel were named as this year’s winners.

“We are proud to recognise the winners of the 2022 NACD Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards who are driving change in the boardroom, their organisations and the communities that they operate in,” said Peter Gleason, NACD President and CEO. “These five companies have taken incredible strides to lead with DE&I. Their work stood out among the more than 150 nominations we received this year.”

THE WINNERS

Paramount Global

The board of Paramount Global was selected for their work internally and externally to foster a culture of inclusiveness. The board holds leadership accountable for creating, developing, promoting and championing a diverse, multicultural workforce, where all employees can achieve and contribute to the company’s success. To build on its DE&I strategies, Paramount Global aims to:

• Have an external hire and internal promotion rate of 55% for women senior vice presidents and above globally;
• Provide eight diverse unified employee resource groups;
• Host more than 60 virtual talks, learning sessions, and interactive workshops during Global Inclusion Week.

On Paramount’s 12-person board, seven self-identify as female, two self-identify as LGBTQ+, two self-identify as African American or Black, and one self-identifies as Hispanic or Latino.

AMN Healthcare 

The board of AMN Healthcare has worked to create innovative DE&I strategies focusing on helping to address health inequities. This healthcare organisation comprises 68% women. Additionally, 40% of its staff members are Black, indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC). The company has worked to create partnerships with suppliers owned by BIPOC, women, veterans and people with disabilities. It has created an employee resource group focused on Black women and their allies and Latin American employees. Additionally, five of AMN Healthcare’s board members are women.

AtriCure Inc 

AtriCure Inc was selected for its commitment to cultivate a safe and inclusive environment and for adding resources to focus on DE&I. The organisation has increased its talent base of women to 47%. It also educates all new hires on unconscious biases and microaggressions. Furthermore, the company has gender and minority pay parity. The healthcare company has built relationships with professional, workforce, social, and grassroots organisations. This includes historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and universities/colleges that represent diverse groups. Four out of nine board members are women, with two of the women being ethnically diverse.

TIAA

The TIAA board was selected for many of its DE&I commitments. This includes innovative programmes like ‘Be the Change’, the ‘People PLAN’, the TIAA People Equity Index, and social media and client development. The ‘Be the Change’ programme works toward pay equity for women and underrepresented racial groups, and how TIAA’s retirement security offering is committed to tackling this ongoing crisis. In 2020, TIAA introduced the ‘People PLAN’ as an additional tool driving leaders’ accountability for talent development, as well as their commitment to DE&I. The internal TIAA People Equity Index helps organisational people managers to evaluate race/gender equity within their teams. Of the 14-person board, two-thirds are women and half are ethnically diverse.

The Association of Corporate Counsel

The Association of Corporate Counsel board was selected for its clear DE&I policies and initiatives, along with detailed success metrics. Its diverse board uses the company’s innovative ideas to create a DE&I Maturity Model via partnerships in the legal field. This has been shared with legal departments around the world to benchmark DE&I efforts. The association board works to provide impactful DE&I programmes externally, as well as in its outreach to and audit of its consultants. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s 25-person board comprises eight White women, five women of colour and six men of colour.

Visit the NACD website to learn more about the awards and winners.

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