Minorities and Women are Deeply Underrepresented in the Leadership of Media, Telecom and High Tech Companies

story by MMTC
written by MMTC President David Honig

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) applauds Senator Robert Menendez (D‐NJ) for his initiative to promote diversity in the hiring and procurement practices of Fortune 500 and 100 companies.

At a briefing on Capitol Hill yesterday, Senator Menendez released a comprehensive report that summarized the findings from a voluntary survey of the nation’s top corporations(http://menendez.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CorporateDiversityReport2.pdf). The survey revealed far lower representation among minorities and women on corporate boards and in senior leadership positions than their levels of representation in America’s population (34% minorities and 50% women). The Senatorreported that:

 In the five media/entertainment/marketing companies responding to the survey, 18.6% of board members were minorities and 22.0% were women; 5.2% of senior executives were minorities and 19.0% were women.

 In the 25 telecom/computer/business services companies responding to the survey, 13.3% of board members were minorities and 22.0% were women.


To encourage participation in the survey, individual respondents’ data was not released. Nonetheless, more than half of the corporations surveyed did not provide a meaningful response or any response, including several media, telecom and broadband companies specifically identified in the report. By failing to participate, these companies missed out on a learning experience and an opportunity to improve.

Senator Menendez’ report included recommendations and best practices, many of which have been endorsed by MMTC for application to the media, telecom and broadband industries. These measures and recommendations include understanding and investing in communities; building relationships with organizations that serve diverse communities; internal mentoring programs; company‐wide accountability; diversity incentives; expanding the recruitment pool from outside the Ivy League; working with search firms that specialize in recruiting diverse candidates, and interviewing diverse candidates for every leadership function.

MMTC and a host of other national organizations have long urged the FCC to collect and disseminate minority and women employment data for media and telecom companies and thereby help these industries remain competitive domestically and internationally. As Senator Menendez stated in his report, “those corporations that have boards and senior management that are reflective of today’s demographics will be better positioned to compete amid a changing market.”