Fight for boardroom diversity: Column: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) made news this week with the announcement that the company has amended its nominating and corporate governance committee charter to state that it is "committed to actively seeking out highly qualified women and individuals from minority groups to include in the pool from which board nominees are chosen." How magnanimous of the technology giant – the world's most valuable company is willing to consider women and minorities for its board. And while Apple will, of course, follow-up this announcement with the appointment of a director with impeccable credentials who meets the company's baseline criteria of being a woman or minority, it is difficult to see this "heroic act" as anything more than an empty gesture.
This is not an instance of a light-bulb turning on over the heads of Apple's board members. The charter amendment comes only after two investor groups, Trillium Asset Management and Sustainability Group,
threatened to offer a board diversity proposal for vote at Apple's annual shareholder meeting next month.
