Dear Valued Client,
The stewardship of the assets we manage is among the most important responsibilities we have to clients like you at State Street Global Advisors. When we began our Fearless Girl campaign three years ago — installing a 50-inch statue in the heart of Wall Street to represent the power and potential of women leaders — we did so because we believe that diversity in the boardroom had become a driver of long-term investment performance. For us, this was a matter not simply of values but value.
That’s why, as part of this campaign, we called on companies in our investment portfolio to create greater gender diversity on their boards — and announced we would use our proxy voting power to hold them accountable. In fact, over the last 12 months alone, we have voted against 487 1 company boards for failing to take action.
But there is another side to this story. Fearless Girl has become a symbol not only of an emerging generation of leaders but also the changing face of the corporate boardroom. I am pleased to share with you that now 681 2 companies across the globe that had previously all-male boards have responded to our call to add a female director. Indeed, in 2019, for the first time in history every company in the S&P 500 ® had a woman on its board, helping to develop strategy, set priorities, hire management and chart the course for the future.
But for all Fearless Girl showed us about gender diversity’s importance to corporate boardrooms, leadership pipelines and company culture, we believe that is only the beginning. At State Street Global Advisors, she continues to inspire us to think bigger and find new ways to be better advocates for clients like you.
We are taking the approach we pioneered with Fearless Girl to a host of material issues that go beyond the balance sheet. Earlier this year we announced that we would begin using our ESG R-Factor™ 3 scores to press companies on a number of sustainability metrics essential to long-term performance, from climate to data privacy. That’s the power of what she started — and where we’re headed.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t more work to be done to diversify corporate boardrooms. In recognition of International Women’s Day, we have placed a “living wall” behind Fearless Girl symbolizing the importance of continuing to grow the number of women in senior leadership. We are hoping people will visit our statue in New York, contribute to the wall and post a message of their own in support of our efforts.
Proactively using our voice and our vote to make a measurable difference around the globe is critical to our mission — and to our role as a fiduciary. And so, I thank you for your business and the privilege of working together as we press forward on behalf of investors like you.
I wish you the very best in the months ahead.
Sincerely, |
