Midwest Investors Diversity Initiative

About

The Midwest Investors Diversity Initiative (MIDI) is a coalition of Midwest-based institutional investors dedicated to increasing racial, ethnic, and gender diversity on corporate boards across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin, given the correlation between diversity and long-term outperformance.

With over $1 trillion in assets under management and advisement, the coalition uses corporate engagements and shareholder rights to protect shareholder value and maximize returns.

How MIDI Supports Better Board Diversity and Governance

The Midwest Investors Diversity Initiative (MIDI) gives companies practical tools and guidance to strengthen board diversity, board composition, and long-term performance. By working with nominating and governance committees, MIDI encourages companies to improve their processes for identifying, evaluating, and selecting board candidates.

MIDI supports companies by encouraging them to:

  • adopt or strengthen board candidate search policies
  • require third-party search firms to include a broad and diverse candidate pool from the start
  • expand the pipeline by considering qualified candidates from nontraditional sources
  • publicly disclose board diversity each year through a board matrix that includes director gender and race or ethnicity

Since 2016, MIDI has engaged 91 companies on board diversity. As a result of those efforts, 143 women and people of color have been appointed to corporate boards, including 111 women, 75 people of color, and 42 women of color. In addition, 66 companies now publicly disclose board diversity data, and 76 companies have adopted policies requiring diverse candidates to be included in board search processes.

MIDI relies solely on the capacity and expertise of its members and receives no external financial support.

A 2023 McKinsey report found that companies with higher levels of diverse representation on executive teams have a higher likelihood to outperform peers, by as much as 39 percent in
terms of profitability, bolstering results found in similar studies from 2020, 2018, and 2015. In addition, a recent study of more than 4,000 North American companies demonstrated that
board gender diversity increases board effectiveness and is tied to better financial performance.

Members

  • Ariel Investments
  • City of Chicago’s Treasurer’s Office
  • Illinois State Board of Investment
  • Illinois State Treasurer’s Office
  • Minnesota State Board of Investment
  • Ohio Public Employees Retirement System
  • Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation School Employees
  • Retirement System of Ohio
  • SEIU Master Trust
  • Sundance Family Foundation
  • Segal Marco Advisors
  • Seventh Generation Interfaith
  • Trinity Health
  • UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust
  • Wespath Benefits and Investments
  • YWCA Metropolitan Chicago

Resources and Additional Information

Press Releases

Contact Us

Should you have any questions or inquiries, please contact the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office at MWVD@illinoistreasurer.gov.

Portrait of an elected official wearing a blue suit, smiling, with the Illinois flag behind them.

“We know that diversity is good for business. We also know that change is hard, especially inside our nation’s boardrooms. Many corporate leaders agree that diversity benefits their operations and board performance. Our focus is to help them navigate this change.”

Michael Frerichs

Illinois State Treasurer