Apple Investor Presses for Diversity Among Senior Management and Directors

Apple investors are being asked to approve a shareholder proposal which would require the company to adopt an “accelerated recruitment policy” to increase racial and ethnic diversity among senior executives and its board. The proposal will be presented and voted on at Apple’s annual meeting in Cupertino (CA) on Feb 26. It cites Apple’s “diminutive level of diversity and its painstakingly slow implementation” of initiatives aimed at correcting the diversity problem at senior levels.

According to data filed by Apple with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2015, of the company’s 103 executive and senior management positions, 3.9% were Black, 1% Hispanic/Latino, 11.7% Asian and 83.5% White. Six of the eight Apple directors are white. The shareholder proposal was filed by individual investor Tony Maldonado, London-based Executive Creative Director of IGRP | Insignia Entertainment, who says he decided to become personally involved with the diversity issue after talking with his teenage son about potential career paths for aspiring executives in the tech industry. Maldonado’s son noted the lack of top-level diversity at Apple.