Black presence on U.S. Boards decrease due to stronger influence of activist hedge funds

The number of African-Americans in executive positions in some of the biggest companies in the US has been shrinking, and some blame the increasing influence of activist hedge funds for the issue.

In 2015, 8.6 percent of the executives who are members of the boards of the biggest 200 companies in the US are African-American. According to Reuters, that figure is a decrease from 2010's 9.6 percent. Some African-American investors believe that the strong influence of activist hedge funds is to blame since this group is made up of mostly whites, and have the power to appoint members to the board of these companies.

Ariel Investments chief executive John Rogers said they (African-Americans) are lest out in this lucrative sector of the economy. Ariel Investments manages $9.6 billion. He sits on the board of McDonald's Corp and Exelon Corp and is also the co-founder of the Black Corporate Directors Conference, which is a prominent networking event.

The US Senate is another area where there is less number of African-American workers. Afro reported that District Black political group Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies revealed in a study that there is a low number of colored employee working in top staff positions in the Senate.

"The Joint Center has a long history of providing research on people of color," said Columbia University sociology doctoral candidate James Jones, the author of the study. "I am working on a dissertation on racial inequality in congressional workplaces and have been working on this topic for 5-6 years. For this report, however, I talked to 100 staffers who work for the Senate and there are so few people of color working in the upper ranks of the Senate."

The lack of diversity is not only present in the boardroom; the tech industry is a vital part of the community that also has a glaring lack of diversity. According to Communities Digital News, the lack of diversity in the tech industry has become a culture of exclusion and it is getting worse. What these tech companies fail to see is that there is a very big buying power among women, and other minorities.

John Rogers is frustrated that there are less minority representations in some important industries like technology companies. Another reason for the declining number of African-American in boardrooms are the qualifications, which include having knowledge on cybersecurity and international business.