Latinos represent 18.5% of the U.S. population but only 3% of Fortune 1000 board seats, according to a report released Tuesday by the Latino Corporate Directors Association and KPMG.
The Latino Representation on Fortune 1000 Boards, 2020 edition measures 2020 Latino representation on Fortune 1000 boards by industry, and by the states where the companies are headquartered. It also shows the Latino directors' gender, age, board and committee service.
LCDA Board Chairman Roel Campos said Latino purchasing power is growing 70% faster than non-Latino and companies not capitalizing on that are losing market share. "Many boardrooms are missing out on Latino talent and inadvertently diluting earnings by not seeking Latinx directors for their boards," Mr. Campos said in a news release.
KPMG partner and LCDA board member Jose R. Rodriguez said in the news release that despite Latinos accounting for $2.6 trillion or one-quarter of U.S. gross domestic product, their "representation on corporate boards is staggeringly low and there has been no progress in the last decade by any measure."
Larger companies have more Latino board members, with 42% of Fortune 100 companies having at least one Latino director, the report found.
By industry, Latinos are best represented on company boards in the food, beverage and tobacco industries, at 5% of board seats in those three sectors combined. In the technology industry, 85% of companies do not have a Latino board member.
The state comparison is even more striking. While California and Texas residents are 39% Latino, only 3% of Fortune 1000 board seats of companies based there are held by Latinos. Florida, with a 25% Latino population, had 5% of Fortune 1000 board seats held by Latinos.
LCDA has an online tool, LatinoBoardTracker.org, to track Latino representation on Fortune 1000 boards.
