Colgate-Palmolive plans to defend DEI criteria for board selection, letter shows

SelfRugger · 2026-03-15T16:02:20+00:00

Colgate-Palmolive intends to oppose a proposal from the National Legal and Policy Center to eliminate DEI criteria in board member selection, asserting the importance of diverse perspectives. This stance aligns Colgate with a few companies maintaining DEI commitments amid growing pressure to roll back such policies.

SelfRugger

2026-03-15 16:02:20

Abstract generation in progress

Colgate-Palmolive plans to defend DEI criteria for board selection, letter shows

Colgate products are displayed on a shelf in a supermarket in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic · Reuters

Reuters

Wed, February 25, 2026 at 5:23 AM GMT+9 1 min read

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Feb 24 (Reuters) - Colgate-Palmolive told the National Legal and Policy Center that it intends to ask investors to vote ‌against the conservative shareholder group’s proposal to remove DEI-related criteria ‌in the company’s selection process for its board members, according to a letter viewed by Reuters.

The NLPC’s proposal comes as several companies including Goldman Sachs, Walmart, Target and Meta dropped or considered altering their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies as U.S. President Donald Trump and conservative groups ‌in the country ramp ⁠up pressure on firms to curtail these programs.

Companies added or beefed up their DEI programs starting in 2020 ⁠amid the Black Lives Matter movement, but they have rolled back their DEI commitments over the past year as pressure mounted from the Trump administration.

Colgate would join a small list of companies such as ‌Costco and Apple in sticking to their DEI policies over the past year. The company said in its response to the NLPC that about two-thirds of its net sales came from markets outside the United States.

“It is important that our directors bring a broad ‌range of skills, experiences, perspectives and backgrounds to the Board,” the company said in its response submitted to the NLPC on Monday.

Colgate did not immediately respond ‌to a Reuters request for an independent comment on the matter.

Colgate in its 2025 proxy statement said that three of its director nominees were “members of underrepresented communities,” but the NLPC stated that ‌the company did not explain what “underrepresented” meant.

Bloomberg News first reported on Colgate’s response to the NLPC.

(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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