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Facebook is doing a board reshuffle and PayPal senior vice president Peggy Alford will now have a seat at the table. Alford will become the first Black woman and the second Black person to join the company’s nine-member board. She’s joining during a strong cultural shift at the social media giant that has been embroiled in scandals.
The Breakdown You Need to Know
The call for diversification in corporate America is as pronounced as ever. Last year former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault became the first African American to be appointed to Facebook’s board of directors. For Alford, she will need to tap into her decades worth of leadership experience at some of Silicon Valley’s premiere companies like eBay, to help Facebook deal with its plethora of public missteps noted CultureBanx. She can also use her wealth of knowledge that comes from serving as a board director at the Macerich Company, a real estate investment trust.
“What excites me about the opportunity to join Facebook’s board is the company’s drive and desire to face hard issues head-on while continuing to improve on the amazing connection experiences they have built over the years,” said Alford in an online statement. “I look forward to working with Mark and the other directors as the company builds new and inspiring ways to help people connect and build community.”
Alford’s impending board arrival coincides with longtime directors Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Erskine Bowles leaving their posts. Both of them have served on Facebook’s board since 2011 but will not be re-nominated next month.
Fast Tracking Board Diversity
Facebook’s leadership is only 3% black and they are following the trend for diversification in corporate America. J.P. Morgan, Uber, Netflix, and Etsy all added African-American female executives to their boards in Q1 of 2018. Ursula Burns, Mellody Hobson, Susan Rice, and Edith Cooper all joined these respective boards of these companies.
There’s research showing the many benefits of diversity in thought among corporate leadership. McKinsey and MSCI found companies with higher levels of diversity at the board level, are more likely to have strong financial performance and fewer instances of poor corporate governance. Specifically, African American women saw an increase in board seats of 26.2% in 2018 in both the Fortune 100 and Fortune 500, according to Deloitte. At the current rate of progress, the company predicts that we would see the number of women and minorities increased to 40% by 2024.
While this is a fantastic board appointment by Facebook, there are still too few African Americans serving on publicly traded boards and at the top of U.S. corporations. Only three African American CEOs are leading Fortune 500 companies. There is a lot more work to be done to diversify the upper ranks of corporations across this country. Alford’s nomination is expected to be confirmed at the company’s annual meeting on May 30th.
