Some proxy advisors and institutional investors have made changes to their diversity policies and mandates, including the following:

• ISS will no longer consider gender, racial, or ethnic diversity for director election recommendations for reports published on or after February 25. 
• Glass Lewis will continue to apply its existing policies for the 2025 proxy season but announced that it will now flag information that could support an alternative vote by the client for any proxy report with a negative diversity-related director recommendation. 
• State Street removed its board diversity targets from its 2025 Global Proxy Voting and Engagement Policy. Instead, State Street states that “nominating committees are best placed to determine the most effective board composition” and “encourage[s] companies to ensure that there are sufficient levels of diverse experiences and perspectives represented in the boardroom.” 
• BlackRock and Vanguard also recently softened their voting policies on diversity.

This article is part of a Fenwick "Securities Law Update" authored by David A. Bell, Ran Ben-Tzur, Amanda Rose, Wendy Grasso, and Merritt Steele.