American Express Co., Deere & Co. and Johnson & Johnson have dropped diversity criteria for selecting new board directors, according to a conservative shareholder activist group.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is considering a similar change, Bloomberg confirmed earlier this week. The moves are the latest ways that pressure from conservatives is changing corporate management and governance.
American Express signed an agreement in October with the nonprofit National Legal and Policy Center, an activist shareholder that opposes DEI programs at companies, according to a letter viewed by Bloomberg News. Deere made changes to its bylaws that came after a shareholder proposal was filed to seek their removal, said Paul Chesser, director of the NLPC’s Corporate Integrity Project. The group opted not to pursue the topic with Johnson & Johnson after the company verified it had already made the change, Chesser said.
American Express, Deere and Johnson & Johnson declined to respond to requests for a comment. The NLPC disclosed the American Express and Deere changes on its web page and provided documents verifying the changes at those companies.
“They already see the DEI wave has gone in the opposite direction,” said Chesser.
Companies have been rolling back diversity commitments for several years, spurred by a conservative backlash and legal pressure on corporate attempts to even the playing field for traditionally underrepresented groups. President Donald Trump accelerated the shift, as he made the elimination of what he called “illegal DEI” a central goal of his second administration through a series of executive orders. A US federal appellate court this month rejected a challenge to key provisions of those directives.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal regulator tasked with policing workplace bias, is urging White men who feel they’ve been discriminated against to come forward and sue their employers. The agency also disclosed in a recent court filing that it’s investigating whether past DEI goals for hiring at Nike Inc. were illegal. Nike has said it is cooperating with the investigation.
American Express agreed to strike language from its criteria for board members mentioning “gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and nationality,” according to the copy of the October agreement between American Express and NLPC. In response, NLPC agreed to withdraw its request for a shareholder vote.
In the case of farm-equipment maker Deere, board bylaws for selected new directors no longer include a reference to “race, ethnicity, gender, and other types of diversity,” which the NLPC found in a previous version and shared in screen shots. Given the removal of the language, the group has dropped the issue with the company, Chesser said.
Goldman is expected to remove race, gender identity, sexual orientation and other diversity factors from the measures its board considers when nominating directors. It’s weighing the change following a request last September from NLPC, a person familiar with the bank’s thinking said, asking not to be identified citing private discussions.
The NLPC also approached Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive Co. about the use of DEI criteria in board selection, Chesser said. Discussions with Johnson & Johnson determined the health care company’s policy was already changed, while Colgate-Palmolive hasn’t issued a formal response, he said. Colgate currently lists “race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and cultural background” among potential director criteria.
About 58% of S&P 500 boards in 2025 reported having a policy similar to the National Football League’s so-called Rooney Rule, which includes a commitment to ensuring individuals from diverse groups are in the candidate pool when teams recruit new coaches. That’s the same ratio as in 2024, according to executive recruiter Spencer Stuart. Still, the same report found that only 78% of companies reported their board’s share of underrepresented minorities in 2025, down from 99% in 2024.
Photo: John Deere equipment for sale at a United Ag and Turf dealership in Colchester, Connecticut. Photographer: Joe Buglewicz/Bloomberg
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