Leading U.S. firms are revising governance language to excise formal diversity requirements for board appointments, according to reporting based on documents released by an activist group. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) have moved away from using specific diversity criteria when selecting new directors.
The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a nonprofit that focuses on corporate integrity, provided documents showing that American Express and Deere have altered prior policies tied to board diversity benchmarks. The NLPC has been an active proponent of changing how public companies write their director-selection standards, submitting shareholder proposals that critics say prioritize traditional governance processes over identity-based criteria.
Paul Chesser, director of the NLPC’s Corporate Integrity Project, summarized the group’s view of the direction of corporate governance: "They already see the DEI wave has gone in the opposite direction," he said.
According to the documents made public, American Express entered a formal agreement with the activist group in October to amend the language it uses when evaluating candidates for the company’s board. Deere is reported to have revised its bylaws shortly after the NLPC filed a proposal that sought the removal of diversity-based benchmarks from the company’s governance framework.
Johnson & Johnson is also listed among companies that have abandoned explicit diversity requirements for director selection, signaling a broader shift beyond the financial sector.
Observers cited in the reporting describe the rollback as part of a wider trend in financial and industrial firms aimed at reducing legal and political exposure tied to corporate diversity programs. The reporting notes that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is weighing similar governance rule changes as companies reassess board-selection language under evolving regulatory pressure.
Officials and corporate advisers point to recent executive actions that target certain diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, using the phrase "illegal DEI" to describe the policies at issue. As legal challenges to those executive directives have not prevailed in federal courts, the reporting suggests more corporations may choose to scale back explicit social-policy commitments in favor of conventional governance approaches.
The developments underscore a shift in how some corporations are balancing shareholder activism, regulatory signals and internal governance choices. The companies named have removed or revised language that previously embedded specific diversity benchmarks into their board-selection processes, reflecting a reorientation in policy framing around director qualifications.
Note: The article reports changes confirmed through documents disclosed by the NLPC and describes actions taken or reportedly under consideration by the named companies. It does not assert motives beyond the disclosures and statements cited.