Opinion

Why Diversity Data Alone Can’t Measure Commitment To Diversity, Equity And Inclusion

Paolo Gaudiano Headshot
By Paolo Gaudiano
On March 18, 2021, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, held a virtual hearing titled “By the Numbers: How Diversity Data Can Measure Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” This virtual hearing was part of the discussion for proposed legislation that would require certain public companies and government entities to disclose diversity data annually, and would establish other criteria to foster greater progress on diversity, equity and inclusion in corporate America.

The meeting, chaired by Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, featured opening remarks by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (who chairs the House Committee on Financial Services) and Ranking Member Ann Wagner. The Subcommittee had called five witnesses: Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller; Daniel Garcia-Diaz, Managing Director of the Financial Markets and Community Investment Team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO); Carolynn Johnson, CEO of DiversityINC; Anne Simpson, Managing Investment Director of Sustainable Investments at CalPERS; and Rick Wade, Senior Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Outreach at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to the content of the meeting itself, which was recorded and can be viewed as webcast, my co-founder and I were invited to submit a statement to be included in the public record. Since the statement touches on a number of topics I have written for this blog, I thought my readers would enjoy reading the statement we submitted, which is included below in its entirety.

Read the full Forbes article.
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Paolo Gaudiano is an Adjunct Associate Professor.