In the Wake of California Diversity Rulings, We Have Only Begun to Fight

In a stunning move for many of us, California Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis ruled in May that California Senate Bill 826 violated the right to equal treatment. The bill required every locally headquartered publicly traded company to have at least one female board director by the end of 2019, and at least one to three female directors by the end of 2021. The decision to overturn Senate Bill 826 came only weeks after another Los Angeles judge ruled similarly against California Assembly Bill 979, which mandated that corporations need to diversify their boards with at least one member from Black, Latino, LGBTQ+, or other underrepresented groups. Determining how to proceed in the wake of these decisions requires some reflection and regrouping...

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Keith D. Dorsey is a managing partner and the US practice leader of CEO & Board Services at Boyden, a global executive search firm with 75 offices in 45 countries. Dorsey is a researcher, author, advisor, and active board member at Vimly Benefit Solutions, Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School, and the City of La Quinta’s Financial Advisory Commission. He is focused on issues of diversity, governance, and strategic growth for private and public corporate boards.