Speaker Welch's Statement on UIUC Diversity Report

CHICAGO, IL -- The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Corporate Board Diversity, Inclusion, and Representation Report for 2020 marks the first summary of gender, racial, and ethnic makeup across companies based in Illinois. With the availability of this data, equity and diversity goals are one step closer to being realized. As a strong advocate for the creation of this report, Speaker Chris Welch offers his following statement:

“This report marks a pivotal moment for Illinois and the business community to realize our shared goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2019, I sponsored this bill because I knew we could not effectively address racial, ethnic, and gender inequities without a clear picture of the existing environment. Today, we have the findings for 2020 that show we need to collectively do better. As the report stated, women are still underrepresented in leadership roles with only 67 percent of companies having two or more women serving as directors. Additionally, only 35 percent of companies have two or more non-white directors. We need to continue to push high standards for a diverse workforce and hold companies accountable that are not taking these goals seriously. This report illustrates where we need to focus our attention and empower our underrepresented communities. As Speaker, I am looking forward to using these findings to guide our next legislative steps to fulfill our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Background

In 2019, Speaker Chris Welch sponsored Illinois House Bill 3394 that required companies and corporations based in Illinois to report the racial and gender makeup of their board to the Secretary of State’s office. Additionally, this bill required the University of Illinois systems to analyze the data and issue a report with their findings.