On August 6, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission
("SEC") made history when it issued its order (the
"Approval Order")1 approving the Nasdaq Stock
Market LLC's ("Nasdaq") board diversity rule request
(the "Proposal")2, the first ever stock
exchange board diversity requirement in the United States.
Beginning August 7, 2021, every company listed on or seeking to
be listed on Nasdaq will be required, after a transition period, to
disclose the composition of its board diversity and either meet
specified diversity thresholds or explain why it does not. The
Proposal was submitted in December 2020, and after garnering an
overwhelming majority of supportive comments over the course of
several months, it was revised in March 2021.3 The
revised rule request was approved by the SEC in its requested form.
The Approval Order explained that by statute the SEC could either
approve or deny the request but not modify it. After a lengthy
analysis of the details of the request
