State Street Investment Management removed specific U.S. gender, racial and ethnic board-diversity thresholds from its proxy-voting policy for meetings beginning April 1, 2026. That changes how the asset manager says it will evaluate votes on directors; it does not create or repeal a legal requirement for companies to choose diverse directors. The available evidence verifies a separate 2025 policy change by Goldman Sachs, but it does not establish an exhaustive list of companies that changed their own board policies.
What did State Street change about board diversity?
State Street Investment Management’s 2026 Global Proxy Voting and Engagement Policy update removed specific gender, racial and ethnic board-diversity requirements or thresholds for U.S. companies. Georgeson’s summary says the revised policy applies to meetings from April 1, 2026. Georgeson’s 2026 policy analysis
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This is an institutional investor’s voting guidance—not a law, listing rule or order to portfolio companies. It informs how State Street evaluates director elections and related proxy matters. Companies may still set board-diversity goals, disclose board composition or select directors from diverse backgrounds.
Which companies are dropping board-diversity requirements?
The verified examples here involve two distinct kinds of policy change, and neither supports a complete roster of companies that have abandoned their own board-selection policies.
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| Policy setter | What changed | Who it concerns | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Street Investment Management | Removed specific U.S. gender, racial and ethnic board-diversity thresholds from its proxy-voting guidance for meetings from April 1, 2026. Georgeson, 2026 | How the asset manager evaluates proxy votes concerning U.S. companies. | That any company must change its board goals or selection practices. |
| Goldman Sachs | Ended its formal board-diversity policy for IPO clients in February 2025, citing legal developments; Goldman also said it continued to believe boards benefit from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Axios, February 11, 2025 | Goldman’s policy for companies it takes public. | That each IPO client changed its own board policy or selection rules. |
These examples should not be expanded into a list of companies cutting board-diversity policies without company-specific evidence, such as a policy statement or proxy filing. Broader changes to workforce targets, supplier initiatives or sponsorships are not, by themselves, evidence that a company changed its board policy.
How State Street’s policy changed over time
- 2025 policy: State Street’s prior policy described board-diversity expectations in certain markets. It included a 30% women-director threshold in applicable markets and allowed votes against nominating committee leadership when relevant expectations were not met. The threshold was not universal across markets. State Street Institutional Investment Trust, 2025 proxy voting policy filing
- February 2025: Goldman Sachs ended its formal board-diversity policy for IPO clients. Axios, February 11, 2025
- 2025 Nasdaq filing: Nasdaq filed to repeal its board-diversity listing requirements. The SEC record documents the repeal process; an exchange filing is a different mechanism from an investor’s proxy-voting policy. SEC, SR-NASDAQ-2025-007
- Meetings from April 1, 2026: State Street’s revised policy removed specific U.S. diversity thresholds, according to Georgeson’s policy summary. Georgeson, 2026
What happened to Nasdaq’s board-diversity rule?
Nasdaq’s board-diversity listing requirements were not the same as State Street’s voting guidelines. Nasdaq’s rules concerned listed issuers and were structured around disclosure and comply-or-explain obligations. Nasdaq filed to repeal those requirements, and the SEC’s published record describes that rulemaking process. SEC, SR-NASDAQ-2025-007
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A repeal of exchange requirements does not prove that every listed company dropped voluntary board-diversity disclosures or goals. Nor does it mean that State Street’s separate policy change caused any company to alter its board practices.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the distinction matters to investors
“Requirement” can refer to a legal obligation, an exchange listing rule, a client policy or an investor’s stated voting approach. Those mechanisms have different reach. State Street’s change affects its own proxy-voting guidance; Goldman’s change applied to its IPO-client policy; Nasdaq’s filing concerned exchange listing rules. Treating them as one company-wide retreat would overstate what the changes show.
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For an investor checking a particular company, the useful evidence is that company’s current proxy statement, governance policy or attributable announcement. State Street’s policy update alone does not tell you whether a portfolio company kept, changed or never had a formal board-diversity target.
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