Goldman Joins American Express, Deere in Retreat from Board Diversity Commitments

A Bloomberg Opinion column published March 2, 2026, places Goldman Sachs alongside American Express and Deere in what it calls a "misguided retreat" from formal board-level diversity commitments. The column, and a LinkedIn post by the author promoting the piece, say American Express and Deere "have all removed diversity factors used to identify board candidates" and that "Goldman Sachs plans to follow suit."

The policy at the center of the column is the boardroom version of the Rooney Rule, adapted from the NFL, which the column describes as a voluntary policy that "commits boards to consider a diverse pool of candidates when filling open seats." The author’s LinkedIn post argues the Rooney Rule has "turned into a case study in how procedural reforms become hollow box‑checking exercises if institutions aren’t committed to deeper structural change."

The Bloomberg column and the LinkedIn post frame these corporate moves as part of a broader pushback, stating, "Even as the great DEI rollback sweeps across corporate America, one policy had managed to survive: the boardroom version of the Rooney Rule. Adapted from the NFL..." The linked post adds a political dimension, saying, "Not anymore. Now, it seems even the Rooney Rule and policies like it are vulnerable to pressure from the Trump administration and right‑wing activists."

The reporting in the column and the LinkedIn promotion does not include direct statements from Goldman Sachs, American Express or Deere, nor does it cite SEC filings, board minutes, or specific governance documents that record the alleged changes. The author’s wording uses "recently" to describe the removals at American Express and Deere and uses "plans to follow suit" to describe Goldman Sachs’ intent; no dates, charter language, or company spokesperson quotes are supplied in the material reviewed.

For bankers and governance staff at Goldman Sachs, the immediate takeaway is that a high-profile opinion piece is asserting an intent rather than documenting an executed change. The column labels the trend a "misguided retreat," while also warning, via the LinkedIn excerpt, that procedural fixes can become ineffective without structural reform. That framing elevates what would otherwise be an internal nominating-committee matter to a reputational and governance issue that investors and employees track closely.

Until Goldman issues a confirming statement or updates governance documents, the concrete public record remains the Bloomberg Opinion column of March 2, 2026 and the author’s LinkedIn post promoting it. If the firm does move to remove diversity factors from board candidate identification, it will join American Express and Deere in the set of companies the column singles out, a shift the author argues is part of a wider rollback of DEI practices in corporate America.