DiversityInc - Winter 2012

sexual orientation, nondiscrimination based on gender identity. They got in trouble so they are trying really hard to do the right thing. We were blown away. You would think a company that has publicly defined values would support candidates that shared those values. They will say, “We’re concerned about our business interest.” As far as I am concerned, and probably the folks at Target are now concerned, their business interests have to do with how they are speaking with their resources.

[The Home Depot] had made a [$10,000] contribution to Bob McDonnell, who was running for the governor of Virginia, through the general treasury funds. The minute he got into office and on his campaign trail, he was committed to rolling back all of the protections for LGBT citizens in the state of Virginia.

I look at that and I think, “Wow, what
would it be like to be any level of employee
who is LGBT at The Home Depot in Virginia
and realize that contributions made from the
general treasury support this guy?”
And what about PAC money? It’s
employee money and should not be subject-
ed to this sort of thing. It would be worse if
you are gay or lesbian and realize that the
guy sitting at the desk next to you is giv-
ing money to this PAC precisely to support
this guy.

Recently, we went to Procter & Gamble. Procter & Gamble does a lot around the world. They were very concerned about these kinds of things. They were really trying hard. But when we looked at their PAC contributions, we saw that stuff and they denied that they made any treasury contributions: “We don’t make any treasury contributions, so why are you picking on us about our PAC?” In fact, they had just been awarded a special recognition by the Center for Political Accountability for [their decision not to give money from their treasury funds].

Lo and behold, they are preparing to go to shareholder meetings and they [file a statement with the SEC that they] had given money from their treasury. P&G has come forth and said that they did.

We spent a lot of time worrying about people’s asset allocation, their income needs. We believe that shareholder engagement,

in addition to money management, can be a positive force for social change.

Gender Investment Strategies

VISCONTI Wall Street and the Wall Street banks have been dominated by men, but your firm is dominated by women. Do you see a philosophical difference between women and men, their investment strategies and how they view investments and security?

GOODRIDGE When the market goes down like 500 points in a day, which it does pretty much every other day, the women are like, “Are you OK? Is everything all right?” Then they will ask, “Do I still have any money?” I’m like, “Yes, let’s schedule a time; let me go through your portfolio.” The guys are like, “We should buy something; it’s just an opportunity,” “We should sell this,” or “I have to trim my portfolio”—just crazy, irrational decisions.

You’d think it would be the other way around—that women become hysterical and they decide to sell. No, it’s the guys that freak out. The guys are active traders. They want to buy and sell. They want to sort the stock. We don’t do that. Those kind of guys need to find somebody else; there are plenty of people that do derivatives.

VISCONTI I was told by WEConnect, which is the global effort by WBENC that certifies women-owned businesses, that there is only 1 percent of global business equity held by women. What do you think would be the benefits—on the world and women in business—of having gender equity?

GOODRIDGE It’s just the same benefit that you have by including any kind of diversity. If you don’t have a broad group of people sitting around the table trying to analyze—for example, what we should do, who you should give your money to, what political candidate you should fund—you are not getting the full picture.