| Vernon Jordan, an iconic power broker and civil rights advocate, died on Monday at age 85. Jordan was a rare fixture who could move effortlessly between the Oval and corporate offices, fighting for racial equality along the way (he was once dubbed the "Rosa Parks of Wall Street".) He worked as the president of the National Urban League in the 1970s before practicing law for more than three decades. He then served on multiple corporate boards, including American Express Co. and Xerox Corp. Well-known as a confidant to President Bill Clinton, he co-headed the president's 1992 transition team and regularly managed political crises for his administration.
This week's top stories:  Another day, another male-to-male succession plan. Bloomberg reported last week that Anheuser-Busch InBev was leaning toward replacing chief executive officer Carlos Brito, who led the company for nearly two decades with an insider. The top candidate is North America president Michel Doukeris, people familiar said. It is unlikely women were seriously considered for the position, given the lack of them in top roles both within ABI and among its peers. The percentage of female executives at the brewer is a woeful 5%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with an average ratio of 17% among its industry peers, not exactly something to rave about. The apparent lack of a pipeline of potential female leaders is a familiar excuse and one that's not unique to the brewing industry. But in 2021, it's no longer an acceptable justification for all White, male leadership, all the time. It doesn't have to be this way! look at TIAA, which poached Thasunda Brown Duckett from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to run the company as its third Black chief executive. Germany, which has among the most male-dominated corporate suites in the developed world, approved legislation in January to force larger listed companies to have at least one woman on their management boards. In February Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said boards of its investee companies where women account for less than 30% of the total roster should consider setting diversity targets. U.K.-based asset managers are making a push, too. Predictably, the moves have started the usual, tired conversations about the "pipeline." Setting mandatory quotas for women on corporate boards of technology startups is a bad idea because there aren't enough suitable candidates, Katie Potts, the founder of U.K. based Herald Investment Trust Plc, wrote in the company's annual report last week. But there's ample evidence to show that's not true.
Five years ago, the U.K. began a business-led review, with backing from successive governments, to improve the representation of women on boards among listed companies. The final report of that review, released last week, found that the number of women on boards of FTSE companies had risen 50% over the period. Fun fact, the review found Diageo Plc the best performer on the benchmark FTSE 100. Sixty percent of the board members of the world's largest distiller are women. That's something we can all drink to. | 
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