# Why University Endowments Should Hire Investment Firms Owned By Women And Minorities.

1 Opinion July 28, 2022 Forbes ![Michael Posner](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_046658.jpg?itok=t24nqftK) By Michael Posner >

By 2050, a majority of people in the United States will be members of racial minority groups. Yet despite changing demographics, and decades of efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, U.S. businesses from Wall Street to Silicon Valley are struggling to build workforces that reflect the changing face of our society. The challenges for Black and Hispanic people are most obvious at the highest reaches of corporate management, including among investment firms.

Among Fortune 500 companies, only six CEOs are Black, and there have been only 19 Black CEOs in U.S. history. Hispanics are slightly better represented at the helm, but only 20 are now running these largest companies. The gap is particularly dramatic in the financial sector where only 2.4% of executive committee members, 1.4% of managing directors, and 1.4% of senior portfolio managers are Black.

Women have had far greater opportunities and have constituted a majority of college graduates since the 1980s. While many women with college degrees have ample opportunities to enter the job market, many still struggle to gain equal footing as their careers progress, especially at the upper reaches of big companies. Though they constitute more than 50% of the population, women lead only 32 of the Fortune 500 companies, a paltry 6.4%.

Read the full [*Forbes* article](https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelposner/2022/07/28/why-university-endowments-should-hire-investment-firms-owned-by-women-and-minorities/?sh=7e525e965957).
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*Michael Posner is the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance, Professor of Business and Society and Director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.*## More from Michael Posner

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