15 Big Companies With at Least 3 Diverse Directors

When a company pays attention to diversity, aiming to have a diverse, inclusive, and/or equitable workforce, it's not just something that will make some workers or customers happy. It can be very good for business, too. According to research from the folks at Moody's, companies with more gender-diverse boards tend to have higher credit ratings. Meanwhile, a 2020 report from respected consultancy McKinsey & Company noted, "The most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability."

Here are 15 companies with meaningful numbers of diverse people on their boards of directors.

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Home Depot (NYSE: HD), the home-improvement giant with a recent market value of $312 billion, has a board of directors with 14 people on it. Four of them -- 29% -- are women. Board members are typically successful businesspeople who have been, or still are, bigwigs at other companies. For example, Stephanie Linnartz, one of Home Depot's directors, is president of Marriott International. The company says this about diversity on its website: "Respect for all people is a top priority for the company, and maintaining The Home Depot's competitive advantage is directly tied to how well our associates reflect the diversity of our customers."

Software titan Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has a board of directors made up of 11 people, five of whom (45%) are women and ethnic minorities. The company noted in its 2021 report on diversity and inclusion, "Women in our global workforce are 27.1% of managers, 22.0% of directors, and 21.1% of partners + executives. While representation of women executives went down 0.6 percentage points from 2019 to 2020, it increased by 1.0 percentage points in 2021, resulting in executive representation of 25.0%."

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the biggest companies in the world, with a recent market value topping $2.3 trillion. The company's board of directors has nine members, three of whom are women. On its website, it details its progress toward making its workforce and management diverse, noting, "We have more than 165,000 talented employees across the world, and many find fulfillment at Apple for many years. We're making progress in increasing representation, and currently, 50% of our workforce in the U.S. is made up of people from underrepresented communities."

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Retail giant Target (NYSE: TGT), recently boasting close to 2,000 stores, gets high marks for diversity. Its board of directors was recently 31% female, and 46% of members were racially or ethnically diverse. The company's total workforce is 49% white and 58% female. It has been paying attention to diversity for a relatively long time, establishing a Diversity Steering Committee in 2003.

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) may not be a household name, but it recently employed close to 700,000 people worldwide and sported a market value topping $190 billion. It's a giant specializing in information technology and consulting, among other things, and is headed by a woman, Julie Sweet, who has said, "Our unwavering commitment to inclusion and diversity unleashes innovation and creates a culture where everyone feels they have equal opportunity." Accenture's board of directors has 10 members, 50% of whom are women and 60% of whom were racially and ethnically diverse. Better still, 50% of board committees were chaired by women.

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Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) may not be completely satisfying all its workers, evidenced by some of them unionizing, but those who want to see diversity in the company's leadership should be relatively pleased, as it is well above average in that regard. The company says it aims "to achieve BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] representation of at least 30% at all corporate levels and at least 40% of all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025 in the U.S. As of October 2021, Starbucks U.S. partner base was 71.3% female and 48.2% BIPOC." Per the company's 2022 proxy statement, four of its 11 directors are women (36%) and five (45%) identify as belonging to racial or ethnic minorities.

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Anthem (NYSE: ANTM), recently with a market value near $120 billion, is a healthcare giant, encompassing a host of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers, among others. It serves more than 45 million people within its health plans and more than 118 million people through its affiliated companies. Anthem's recent proxy summary highlighted 40% representation of women on its board of directors (four of 10 members) and 40% for racially or ethnically diverse inclusion.

Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B), is among the biggest in the country, recently valued near $690 billion and employing 372,000 people as of the end of 2021. Management noted in the company's 2021 proxy statement that "Berkshire’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and the effectiveness of our companies’ related programs starts with our leaders, including our Board of Directors, of which four members are female and two members are racially or ethnically diverse." The board recently sported 15 members.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) has diversity goals in place and reports on its progress as it approaches and reaches them. It recently noted that women made up 44.8% of its global workforce in 2021, up from 41.9% in 2018. In the U.S., women went from 44.5% of the total workforce in 2018 to 47% in 2021. As for racial and ethnic diversity, 38.4% of the company's U.S. workforce was white in 2018, and that figure has dropped to 30% in 2021. The company's 11 directors on its board include five women -- and two directors are people of color.

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Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) is no slouch in the diversity department, having been a finalist last year for the International Diverse Company of the Year by the Diversity in Tech awards. The company's board of directors features 11 members, four of whom (36%) are women and four of whom (36%) are people of color. The company notes that seven of 11 board members are women or ethnically or racially diverse, that nearly 60% of U.S. employees are women or people of color, and that Verizon has achieved 100% pay equity for men and women.

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HP (NYSE: HPQ), the technology specialist known for its printers, laid out some bold diversity goals last year. For example, the company aims to "achieve 50/50 gender equality in HP leadership by 2030," "achieve greater than 30% technical women and women in engineering by 2030," and "meet or exceed labor market representation for racial/ethnic minorities in the U.S. by 2030." In the meantime, its board of directors is 46% women and 54% minorities.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP) -- a powerhouse not only in beverages but also in salty snacks -- is a contender in the diversity department, too. Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta has said, "The ultimate objective is to become a company that's focused on equity and genuinely inclusive." PepsiCo regularly publishes diversity reports, and its last one, for 2020, reflected a global leadership that was 43% female -- with 38% in the executive realm. (Those numbers for the U.S. are 42% and 40%, respectively.) Its board of directors, meanwhile, is 29% female and 43% nonwhite.

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Pharmaceutical giant Merck (NYSE: MRK) is committed to having a diverse workforce and leadership and noted in its 2022 proxy statement that 43% of its board of directors -- six out of 14 people -- was female and that 21% (three out of 11) were Black or African-American. On its website, Merck says: "Diversity & inclusion are key to how we operate, how we engage employees and how we drive competitive advantage."

In 2020, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) laid out some big goals -- and a $44 million pledge -- committing to making "systemic, permanent changes that address social injustices to improve our company and our communities." Specifically, it aimed to fill a third of new nonhourly corporate positions with "BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color -- specifically Black, Latinx and Indigenous) employees" and another third with women. In fiscal 2022, the company exceeded that first goal, at 37%, and came somewhat close on the second, at 26%. Meanwhile, Best Buy's board of directors is 45% female and 36% BIPOC.

ALSO READ: Is Best Buy Making a Big Mistake?

Lowe's (NYSE: LOW), the home-improvement giant recently bearing a market value near $124 billion, is another company focusing on diversity. Its 2021 Culture, Diversity & Inclusion Report notes that about 35% of its workforce is nonwhite and that its board of directors is 30% female and 40% people of color.

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For many people, it's not happening fast enough, but it is happening: Many companies are getting more diverse -- both in their workforce and in their boards of directors. Investors might want to review how diverse a particular company's board is before investing in its stock.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Selena Maranjian has positions in Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), Marriott International, Microsoft, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Accenture, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), Best Buy, HP, Home Depot, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Target. The Motley Fool recommends Lowe's, Marriott International, and Verizon Communications and recommends the following options: long January 2023 $115 calls on Marriott International, long January 2023 $200 calls on Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, short January 2023 $200 puts on Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), short January 2023 $265 calls on Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), short July 2022 $85 calls on Starbucks, and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.