Howard Lutnick said he thought it was a “perfectly reasonable thing to do” to implement DEI policies — a stark contrast to the policy position of his future boss and his administration.
Before being nominated by President Donald Trump to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Howard Lutnick affirmed the need for companies to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion — a stark contrast to the policy position of his future boss and his administration.
During an interview with CNBC in December 2020, Lutnick, then chairman and CEO of the financial services institutions Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Group, affirmed DEI’s corporate benefits.
“Well, look, I have two public companies … both of those companies have women and minorities on the board,” he shared. He continued, “I mean, with all due respect, what year is this? 2020? You know, if you’re not representative on your board, you’re getting a full, diverse, and interesting conversation going, and you should cover a lot of ground.”
Lutnick, whose net worth is $2 billion, said he thought it was a “perfectly reasonable thing to do” to implement DEI policies. He said whether DEI in hiring is law or not, “companies should really be doing this on their own.”
“No one needed to tell me that this was the law, I mean give me a break,” Lutnick proclaimed. “Women are half the people on the earth. How do you not have women on your board? You’ve got to be kidding me. And minorities? Come on.”
He continued, “These are awesome people. You need to stop being so narrow minded and get a broad group of people on your board.
Lutnick’s praise of diversity, equity and inclusion is the opposite position of President Donald Trump, who in his first day in office signed an executive order ordering federal agencies to eliminate all DEI roles, offices and programs. The order also called for private companies to follow suit, though companies are not required to by law; however, Trump said companies would be investigated and that legal action would be taken if their programs are deemed discriminatory.
Several other companies connected to Lutnick have embraced DEI policies, including the real estate company Newmark, Horace Mann School, Weil Cornell Medicine, where he served as either chairman or board member. In the same CNBC interview, Lutnick also said he backed a NASDAQ proposal that would require listed companies to have at least one woman and one minority on their board.
“Billionaires like Howard Lutnick know diversity makes businesses stronger — he said it himself. But now, in Trump’s administration, he’s turning his back on working people to help the wealthy hoard more tax breaks,” Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century, told theGrio. “Republicans are not here to help everyday Americans — they’re here to cash in.”
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., pressed Lutnick if he supports the continuing of the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), which is responsible for helping minority entrepreneurs access capital and business contracts markets and contracts for businesses led by minority entrepreneurs.
“I think it’s small, so it’s hard for it to be successful. It can be effective,” said Lutnick. “It’s important to put things in their size perspective, and it’s a small agency, as you know.”
Ironically, a lawsuit was filed against the MBDA in 2024 accusing the agency’s racial preferences of being discriminatory against white business owners. A court ultimately ruled against the federal government, resulting the MBDA having to open up its services to beyond Black, brown and other entreprenuers deemed “disadvantaged.”
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