Capital One Adds Facebook’s Archibong, Nike’s Williams to Board

(Bloomberg) -- Capital One Financial Corp. said it will add Facebook Inc.'s Ime Archibong and Nike Inc.'s Craig Williams to the lender's board of directors, amid steps by major companies to improve diversity at their highest ranks following racial justice movements in the U.S. last year.

Archibong is head of new product experimentation at Facebook, leading an internal group that tests new mobile apps and products, while Williams is president of Nike's popular Jordan brand. The two will stand for election during Capital One's annual shareholder meeting in May.

“When I first met Ime, his optimism and sense of possibility jumped off the screen,” Capital One's Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairbank said in a statement. “Craig's great judgment has been honed by more than three decades of global experience in setting visions, building brands, and driving stellar results at some of the world's most admired companies.”

Capital One, the third-largest U.S. credit-card issuer, also said Pierre Leroy will retire from the firm's board after 16 years “in accordance with the company's retirement policy.”

With the changes, Capital One will have 13 directors, four of whom self-identify as ethnically diverse. Four are also women.

Read more: Nasdaq Joins Goldman in Corporate Push for More Diverse Boards

In the wake of protests that engulfed the U.S. last year, many of the country's largest corporations have sought to diversify their boards and executive ranks.

Nasdaq Inc. plans to require most companies listed on its U.S. exchange to include at least one director who identifies as female and one who identifies as an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will no longer take a company public in the U.S. and Europe if it lacks a director who is either female or diverse, it said last year.

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