The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the authority on boardroom practices representing more than 23,000 corporate board members, announced the five winners of the 2022 NACD Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Awards. The awards recognize boards that have improved their governance and created long-term value for stakeholders by implementing forward-thinking DE&I practices.
The award winners were announced during the 2022 NACD DE&I Awards Gala held on Wednesday, December 7, at Gotham Hall in New York City, in partnership with Gala partner Deloitte.
The awards were given to five organizations in these categories:
Public Company – Large Cap — Paramount Global
Public Company – Mid Cap — AMH Healthcare
Public Company – Small Cap — AtriCure Inc.
Private Company – TIAA
Nonprofit organization – The Association of Corporate Counsel
Learn more about the 2022 NACD DE&I Award winners that were selected by an independent selection committee composed of leading corporate directors.
Public Company – Large Cap — Paramount Global
The board of Paramount Global was selected for their work internally and externally to foster a culture of inclusiveness, which holds leadership accountable for creating, developing, promoting, and championing a diverse, multicultural workforce where all employees can achieve and contribute to the company’s success. To build on its DE&I strategies, Paramount Global aims to have an external hire and internal promotion rate of 55 percent for women senior vice presidents and above globally; to provide eight diverse unified employee resource groups; and to host more than 60 virtual talks, learning sessions, and interactive workshops during Global Inclusion Week. On Paramount’s 12-person board, 7 self-identify as female, 2 self-identify as LGBTQ+, 2 self-identify as African American or Black, and 1 self-identifies as Hispanic or Latino.
Public Company – Mid Cap – AMN Healthcare
The board of AMN Healthcare has worked to create innovative DE&I strategies focusing on helping to address health inequities. This health-care organization is composed of 68 percent women, and 40 percent of its staff members are Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). The company has worked to create partnerships with suppliers owned by BIPOC, women, veterans, and people with disabilities, and has created an employee resource group focused on Black women and their allies and Latin American employees. Five of AMN Healthcare’s board members are women.
Public Company – Small Cap — AtriCure Inc.
AtriCure Inc. was selected for its commitment to plan and cultivate a safe and inclusive environment and for adding resources to focus on DE&I. AtriCure Inc. has increased its talent base of women to 47 percent, educates all new hires on unconscious biases and microaggressions, and has gender and minority pay parity. The health-care company has built relationships with professional, workforce, social, and grassroots organizations, including historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and universities/colleges that represent diverse groups. Four out of nine board members are women, with two of the women being ethnically diverse.
Private Company – TIAA
The TIAA board was selected for their many DE&I commitments, including innovative programs like “Be the Change,” the “People PLAN,” the TIAA People Equity Index, and social media and client development. The “Be the Change” program works toward pay equity for women and underrepresented racial groups—and how TIAA’s retirement security offering is committed to tackling this ongoing crisis. In 2020, TIAA introduced the “People PLAN” as an additional tool driving leaders’ accountability for talent development, as well as their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The internal TIAA People Equity Index helps organizational people managers to evaluate race/gender equity within their teams. Of their 14-person board, two-thirds are women and half are ethnically diverse.
Nonprofit organization – The Association of Corporate Counsel
The Association of Corporate Counsel board was selected for an award for its clear policies and initiatives along with detailed success metrics. The diverse board of the Association of Corporate Counsel uses the company’s innovative ideas to create a DE&I Maturity Model via partnerships in the legal field, and this has been shared with legal departments around the world to benchmark DE&I efforts. The association board works to provide impactful DE&I programs externally as well as in its outreach to and audit of its consultants. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s 25-person board comprises 8 white women, 5 women of color, and 6 men of color.
“We are proud to recognize the winners of the 2022 NACD Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards who are driving change in the boardroom, their organizations, and the communities that they operate in,” says Peter Gleason, NACD president and CEO. “These five companies have taken incredible strides to lead with DE&I, and their work stood out among the more than 150 nominations we received this year.”
