Out Leadership to Host OutQUORUM

Out Leadership will host the 2nd annual OutQUORUM: "Progress and Possibility," a two-day, virtual summit, taking place March 22 -24. At this cornerstone Out Leadership event, CEOs and senior executives will meet to discuss the 2022 report, the state of LGBTQ+ diversity in the Boardroom, progress to date, and the challenges ahead. OutQUORUM is the first and only initiative to address the staggering under-representation of LGBTQ+ diversity on Corporate Boards globally.

• Just 113 out of >3,300 Nasdaq listed companies define board diversity as inclusive of LGBTQ+ individuals (2.4% of companies listed on Nasdaq)

• Only 23 Fortune 500 companies have LGBTQ+ inclusive board diversity policies, nearly double the number from last year

• Since 2021, numerous Fortune 500 companies that have changed their diversity definition to include LGBTQ+ including: 3M, Caesars Entertainment, Cisco, Clorox, ColgatePalmolive, Edison, Emerson Electric, Fidelity National Financial, HollyFrontier, Howmet Aerospace, Huntsman, Lam Research, M&T Bank, Progressive, Quest Diagnostic, Starbucks and Ulta Beauty +.

Among the topics to be discussed at this year's OutQUORUM:

Investors & Regulators: Catalysts for Change

Wed. March 23, 2022, 10 - 11AM

On September 30, 2020, Gov. Newsom of California signed Assembly Bill 979 mandating publicly listed companies in California to have diverse Boards Members including based on sexual orientation and Gender identity. The Nasdaq listing rule was similarly approved in August 2021. The FCA proposal CP21/24 is still under review. Why does the regulator need to step in? Is it an overreach by the Government? What is it trying to achieve? What are the lessons from other legal mandates on Board diversity?

How States can Influence and Improve Board Diversity through Policy

Wed. March 23, 2022, 2 - 2:15PM

Todd Sears sits down with one of the architects of California's board diversity legislation (AB979) Assemblymember Chris Holden for an intimate discussion focused on Holden's personal and professional journey.

Navigating the Legal Storm around AB979 and the NASDAQ Listing Rule

Thurs. March 24, 2022, 1 - 2PM

Both AB979 and the Nasdaq listing rule on Board diversity are being challenged in court. Specifically, AB 979 is subject to three lawsuits attacking its legitimacy: Crest v. Padilla II, Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. Weber, and National Center for Public Policy Research v. Weber. Even Nasdaq's milder "comply-or-explain" listing rule has been challenged in pending petitions to the Third and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeal disputing the US Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of the rules. And yet companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange must comply with the new rules by August 2022 while AB979 has been in effect since December 31. This session will bring together legal and Board experts to discuss the timing of these lawsuits, their chances of success and what it means for companies and LGBTQ+ board representation.

Speakers at this year's OutQUORUM include Jill Ader (Global Chairwoman, Egon Zehnder), Esther Aguilera (President and CEO, Latino Corporate Directors Association), Susan Angele (Senior Advisor, KPMG LLP), Jane Barry-Moran (Director, Partnerships and Programs, Out Leadership), Guillaume Bagal (VP of Diversity & Inclusion, United Natural Foods), Charlie Beasley (Consultant, Egon Zehnder), Lisa Blais (Partner, Leader of the US Board Practice, Egon Zehnder), Jim Fitterling (Chairman and CEO, Dow), Rodrigo Garcia (Chief Investment Officer, BeDoWin360 Capital), Krishna Grenville-Goble (Director, KPMG), Charlotte Hamilton (CEO, Conamix), Fabrice Houdart (Managing Director, Global Equality Initiatives, Out Leadership), Mark Latchford (Associate Director, Pride in Diversity), Professor Jeremy McClane (Associate Professor of Law, University of Illinois), Fiona McGauchie (Consultant, Egon Zehnder), Susan Metcalf (CEO, Chief Executive Women), Brian O'Fahey (Partner, Hogan Lovells US LLP), Todd Sears (Founder & CEO, Out Leadership), Allyn Shaw (EVP, Wells Fargo Technology, Wells Fargo), Satyajeet Thakur (Partner, Egon Zehnder), Paul Zahra (CEO, Australian Retailers Association), John Zecca (Executive Vice President, Global Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer Nasdaq) and more to be announced.

For a complete list of this year's OutQUORUM events and speakers, click here.

When Out Leadership launched OutQUORUM eight years ago, just two companies in the Fortune 500 - and no companies outside of the United States - included sexual orientation or gender identity as a metric for board diversity. Since then, Out Leadership developed and published research and guidelines that resulted in the adoption of LGBTQ+ inclusive policies in 12 additional Fortune 500 companies and numerous smaller public companies, privately-held companies, and other enterprises. That number nearly doubled this year because of Out Leadership's advocacy and the work of global leaders across industry, who continue to push their organizations to make concrete policy changes.

"OutQUORUM makes a strong case - the only case - for LGBTQ+ board diversity. Economic empowerment for LGBTQ+ people means seeing a pathway for success at their place of employment," says Todd Sears, Founder and CEO, Out Leadership. "Our research has shown that visible LGBTQ+ people serving in top leadership positions, especially on the board, give diverse talent across the spectrum the confidence to see a pathway to career success. Yet, only 19 Fortune 500 corporations explicitly include LGBTQ+ people in their definition of board diversity, resulting in only 29 of the 5,670 board seats that exist in the Fortune 500 being held by out LGBTQ+ board members. That's less than 1%. LGBTQ+ representation in boardrooms across the country and around the world must move closer to the center. Decision makers must consider board diversity the norm, not the exception. Less than 1% is inexcusable."

Out Leadership is the world's first and only LGBTQ+ corporation whose sole product is Equality. Out Leadership harnesses the power of business to drive equality by connecting LGBTQ+ and leaders across the globe, advocating for inclusion at every level, from employee to executive to CEO. With 94 member companies (including Amazon, American Express, Bloomberg, Citi, CocaCola, Comcast, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, IBM, Microsoft, Nike and Walmart), Out Leadership partners with 56 non-profits (GLAAD, Freedom for All Americans, Lambda Legal, Transgender Law Center, to name a few) and donates over 20% of its net-profit every year to global LGBTQ+ non profits.

Click here to register for this year's virtual OutQUORUM summit.