No Diversity On Urban Outfitters Board Of Directors
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Urban Outfitters targets a diverse market in its advertising but not in its board of directors. Some shareholders would like to change that.
Urban Outfitters is one of the only women's apparel companies left with a board that is composed exclusively of white males, according to Aditi Mohapatra of Calvert Asset Management.
"Their competitors including Gap, Nordstrom, Abercrombie and Fitch, all have diverse boards."
Calvert introduced a resolution, at both this year's and last year's shareholder's meetings, proposing that Urban change its director search procedures so women and non-whites are included in the pool of candidates. The company advised against it and the resolution failed, but it got many more votes this year.
Mohapatra says 39 percent recommended approval, compared to 23 percent last year.
"There is an increasing number of investors that are voting their proxies to show they do support this issue."
Mohapatra says Calvert hopes Urban will act on its own.
The company did not respond to requests for comment.
