Ford director Kimberly Casiano was a pioneering Latina in the boardroom. When it comes to diversity, she says corporate America has a lot of work left to do.
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CNBC: You were the first Hispanic woman to serve on one of the top five Fortune 100 corporate boards, but as of 2022, corporate boards continue to remain majority white and male. What do you see as the biggest obstacle to diversifying corporate boards? Over that past 18 years that I have sat in Fortune 500 boardrooms, I have seen a multitude of polite nods whenever diversity and inclusion is discussed. Unfortunately, I believe that until diversity or inequality has touched someone personally, people do not become "true believers."
Casiano: Honesty/integrity should be an essential part of would-be executives, as people and as professionals. But I always emphasize that honesty and integrity must be 100%. There is no grey area when it comes to honesty and integrity. They are like pregnancy. You either are pregnant or you are not pregnant. There is no grey area. There is no such thing as being a little bit pregnant. The same with honesty and integrity.
CNBC: You've called yourself not a product of corporate America but rather a product of an entrepreneurial family. How has your background helped you when sitting in corporate boardrooms? What do corporations need to change to get more diverse, out-of-the-box, entrepreneurial thinkers in those rooms?
A board of directors' search criteria when targeting potential board candidates needs to be more diverse. Traditionally, boards looked for candidates from corporate America, often sitting or former CEOs. I believe that boards need to be balanced: some directors with specific skill sets critical to the strategy of a company and other directors with broad experience, who are broad thinkers, extremely smart, and keenly strategic in their thinking. Entrepreneurs should be part of the mix.
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