Goldman's new director makes its board almost half female

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Monday that media lawyer Kimberley Harris would become its newest board member, a move that means nearly half of the Wall Street bank’s board of directors will be women.

Harris is NBCUniversal Media’s general counsel and an executive vice president at the Comcast Corporation.

Her appointment comes as banks face growing calls to add diverse and women candidates to their top rungs of leadership.

The financial industry is almost entirely run by men, although a handful of women have broken through to executive ranks in recent years. Last September, Jane Fraser became the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank when she was named chief executive of Citigroup Inc.

Goldman has publicly set specific internal targets aimed at hiring and promoting more women into its senior ranks.

Last August, bank management said that by 2025 they want 40% of Goldman vice presidents to be female. That followed a goal set in 2019 that half of new analysts and entry-level associates hired at the bank in the United States be women.

In 2020, Goldman said it would only help take a company public if that company’s board had at least one diverse board member, such as a woman.

On Goldman’s own board, Harris’ appointment means that six of 13 directors are women.

By comparison, JPMorgan Chase & Co’s board has 10 directors, including four women, and Bank of America’s board has 16 directors, including six women.

Prior to her work at NBCUniversal and Comcast, Harris was a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. She also worked as senior counsel to the assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, and during President Barack Obama’s administration, she was principal deputy counsel and deputy assistant to the president.

Among her duties as board member, Harris will sit on Goldman’s governance, compensation and public responsibilities committees.

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