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Apple Updates Corporate Bylaws on Diversity Following Criticism Over Lack of Female Leaders
Apple has come under criticism from major shareholders Trillium Asset Management LLC and the Sustainability Group over the absence of women on its board and throughout its top-level rankings, reports Bloomberg.“There is a general problem with diversity at the highest echelon of Apple,” said Jonas Kron, director of shareholder advocacy at Boston-based Trillium, which manages $1.3 billion. “It’s all white men.”According to the report, the shareholders met with Apple representatives several times over the past few months to address the company's lack of female executives. The shareholders intended to bring the issue to a vote at Apple's shareholder meeting on February 28, but backed off once Apple agreed to address the issue through new language in the company's corporate charter [PDF link].
Apple is now adding the following language to the charter of the board’s nominating and governance committee: “The nominating committee is committed to actively seeking out highly qualified women and individuals from minority groups to include in the pool from which board nominees are chosen.”Currently, the only woman serving on Apple's board is former Avon CEO Andrea Jung, who was elected to the position in 2008. The company is also set to add Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts to its executive team in the spring, as she will become Apple's Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores.
While the statement was included in the company’s proxy for the past several years, it hadn’t been part of the company charter, a governing document. Apple also vowed to continue discussions with shareholders about ways to improve diversity, Ruoff said.
Apple's 2014 Annual Meeting of Shareholders will take place at the company's 1 Infinite Loop headquarters on February 28, 2014 at 9:00 AM Pacific Time, where votes on eleven proposals related to director reelection, compensation, and more will be held.
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62 months ago
I don't even get it. Why not just pick whos best for the job? I can see the point if two people are equally qualified, but they keep picking older white males.
Why not try to pick who is best, before commenting on gender or other factors.
Why not try to pick who is best, before commenting on gender or other factors.
62 months ago
I can see the point if two people are equally qualified, but they keep picking older white males.
You are assuming that the best in those field are not older white males.
Diversity is something that has to be changed from the bottom to upside, not the other way around. Are there qualified members of minorities to fill the positions within Apple? If yes, and they are better than those currently there, those individuals should be employed by Apple.
If not, however, Apple should not be forced to hire unqualified people just to fill some kind of "token minority" quota. In my country, for example, few women apply for engineering courses, so it's expected that there are more great engineers of the male gender than the female gender - simply because there are more male engineers than female engineers.
62 months ago
The problem with "Diversity" is there may not be anyone else qualified to fill the position. The only thing worse than not having diversity, is having diversity for diversity's sake, regardless of skills. There may be qualified people to fill roles at Apple, but they may not have any interest, or for some other reason, they aren't in those positions. Forcing diversity has never helped anyone.
62 months ago
How about just looking for the most qualified person.
Didn't Apple just hire a high ranking female?
Diversity for the sake of diversity is not a good thing.
Didn't Apple just hire a high ranking female?
Diversity for the sake of diversity is not a good thing.
62 months ago
Stories like these make me so ****ing angry! It's like they want Apple to get cooties!
62 months ago
They always look for the highly valuable target to push the agenda. Why are these racists so focused on skin color? It is like saying, "Oh no, we only have 2 people with blue eyes here." Talk about irrelevant. Just because THEY focus on skin color doesn't mean that the rest of us our racist like them.
Do they really think that there are all these stupid people out there who want to reward someone because they are a white guy when they could get someone better who had a different skin color or eye color?
Do they really think that there are all these stupid people out there who want to reward someone because they are a white guy when they could get someone better who had a different skin color or eye color?
62 months ago
I too disagree with this forced equality lark. I firmly believe that every company should hire the best person for the job, regardless of age race religion gender or sexual preference.
62 months ago
The problem with "Diversity" is there may not be anyone else qualified to fill the position. The only thing worse than not having diversity, is having diversity for diversity's sake, regardless of skills. There may be qualified people to fill roles at Apple, but they may not have any interest, or for some other reason, they aren't in those positions. Forcing diversity has never helped anyone.
Yep. Look no further then our federal government that forces this into everything.
Have you ever seen the companies that pop up because of requiring minorities to have a say. They are inept, incompetent individuals and companies that get to charge an arm and a leg and consistently fail at their job.
Diversity is complete BS.
Hire the best person regardless of skin color.
62 months ago
isn't Eddy Cue of Mexican descent?
I believe he's Cuban. And Cook of course is rumored to be gay. Is that not considered diversity?
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