White men, boardrooms, and a diversity push

New York

TONY Maldonado was just 15 when he posed a question that's nettling some deep pockets in the stock market: "How come everyone on the board is white?"

While surfing the Web three years ago, the teenager discovered the board at Apple Inc, like the boards of many major American corporations, was, as his dad puts it, a bit "vanilla".

Apple does have an African-American man and an Asian-American woman on its eight-person board, but, on Feb 26, stockholders will vote on a milestone resolution pushing for even more racial diversity among its leaders. Mr Maldonado's father, also Tony, sponsored the plan, the first of its kind in the United States.

Trying to muscle Apple might sound starry-eyed, and the company calls the proposal "unduly burdensome and not necessary". But it turns out the Maldonados, who are of Dominican ancestry, have seized on an issue that's gaining the attention …