What are the 278 NASDAQ Companies with an LGBTQ+ Board Member?

A comprehensive analysis of LGBTQ+ representation on 3,031 NASDAQ-listed companies

The Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors collaborated with Professor Wouter Torsin from the HEC Management School at the University of Liège on a ground-breaking study that provides never-before-seen data on LGBTQ+ representation on the Boards of 3,031 companies (representing 2,503 US and 528 foreign firms) listed on the NASDAQ.

Torsin assembled the first-ever board diversity mapping – 23,958 Board seats – covered by the NASDAQ’s Board Diversity Rule, which does not include “exempt companies” such as non-operating companies, including SPACs. Torsin and his team scoured the internet for proxy statements and some website disclosures to compile this analysis.

The information provided is based on the voluntary self-identification of each member of the company’s board of directors. Notably, about 5% of Board members did not disclose demographic information, and 3% did not reveal their gender, an option provided by the NASDAQ Board diversity matrix instructions. Acknowledging that the disclosure is not nominative, allowing additional privacy is essential to understanding this data.

The study's main conclusion, as it relates to sexual orientation, is that 292 seats, or 1.2% of all seats, were occupied by self-identified LGBTQ+ people in 2022. This increases to 1.3% for U.S.-incorporated companies (representing 260 seats) and 1.4% for European ones. Two hundred sixty-three (264) companies have one LGBTQ+ Board member, 12 have 2, and 2 have 3. Consequently, 278 or 9% of these companies have at least one LGBTQ+ Board member.

As for gender identity, only two seats are occupied by self-identified non-binary people.

The analysis also provides a comprehensive view of other aspects of diversity, revealing that women only hold 25% of these board seats, African Americans 4.3%, Asians 9%, Latinos 2.3%, and Native Americans 1%. The percentage of women on Board is striking when the European regulator mandated at least 40% representation in public companies.

While the non-nominative data won’t allow us to look at the intersectional identities, tenure, or age of these directors, we noted that companies with an LGBTQ+ Director were more likely to have a female director, 96.7% of U.S. firms with an LGBTQ+ board member also have a female on their boards against 90% for all U.S. companies in the sample.

Regarding sectoral disparities, life sciences companies had the highest percentage of LGBTQ+-occupied Board seats in the U.S., 1.8%, followed by Business Equipment (1.29%). On the other hand, Manufacturing (0.26%), Chemicals (0.46%), and Utilities (0.46%) were the least likely to have an LGBTQ+ Board member.

A list of the companies with an LGBTQ+ Board Member is included in alphabetical order below.

It’s the first time this data has been published, creating a benchmark for the future. The findings echo our previous Fortune 500 analysis (not based on voluntary disclosure), which uncovered that LGBTQ+ people occupy about 40 seats (or 0.8% in 38 companies representing 7.6% of the Fortune 500 companies), showcasing severe underrepresentation of LGBTQ+ people who comprise 7.2% of the U.S. population.

Elements of explanations for this severe underrepresentation were outlined in the April 2023 report of the Association, the 2023 LGBTQ+ Board Monitor Report, available here.

This analysis confirms that LGBTQ+ people are vastly underrepresented in the Boardroom. The number of LGBTQ+ people on boards is so low, and we keep hearing that companies are struggling to find qualified candidates. Yet, the Association’s extensive network of exceptional LGBTQ+ talent demonstrates that there is indeed a substantial pool of qualified individuals, rendering such excuses obsolete. Despite this wealth of skilled talent, the exclusion and overlooking of LGBTQ+ people has persisted for far too long, which is unacceptable in twenty-first-century America.

Name of the company, ticker, Number of LGBTQ+ Board Members