So Many ‘Dicks’ So Few of Everyone Else

e.l.f. Beauty Encourages More Diversity Across U.S. Corporate Boards - Seite 2

Working with purpose-driven agency OBERLAND, e.l.f. Beauty conducted research on Corporate Boards in the U.S. learning that men named Richard, Rick, or Dick (Dicks) serving on these public company boards outnumbered women and diverse groups.

To create the data, e.l.f. Beauty and OBERLAND identified and categorized the race and gender of each person serving on the boards of directors of U.S. based companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ using publicly available biographies, images, public statements and information provided in public filings. This included 36,957 existing board members across 4,429 publicly traded U.S. companies. Once the data was in hand, the statistics were astounding.

• There were 566 men named Richard, Rick, or Dick (Dicks) serving on these public company boards.
• Black women and Asian women barely outnumber men named Dick, with only 806 Black Women, 774 Asian Women.
• There were only 283 Hispanic Women on these same boards, only half the number of “Dicks.”
• There are 19x more men named Dick than the 29 women of Middle Eastern descent on these boards.
• There are only 3 Native American Women serving on these boards compared to 566 men named Dick.

That data that fueled “So Many Dicks” has never been categorized this way and researched manually, it illuminates underrepresentation in boardrooms that make decisions at companies that fuel the U.S. economy.

“e.l.f.’s commitment to diverse representation isn’t limited to within the four walls of our company. We want to normalize diversity – and if it takes some e.l.f.ing in-your-face advertising to do it, we’re happy to put it on some of the biggest screens you can imagine,” said Kory Marchisotto, Chief Marketing Officer, e.l.f. Beauty. “The aim of the data, the database and the compelling ad campaign is to invite others with us on this journey to drive real impact and help corporate boards more accurately reflect the world around us.”

e.l.f. kicked off the “Change The Board Game” initiative earlier this year when it announced a partnership with the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and its sponsorship of 20 women and/or diverse board-ready candidates through NACD Accelerate, a unique, two-year program that creates a pathway for executives to prepare for board service. Each year in the U.S. we typically see around 3% growth of women and diverse candidates on corporate boards, but e.l.f. is aiming for 6% growth by 2027.