Rep. Cleaver Introduces Amendment to Higher Education Act to Improve Diversity in the Field of Asset Management

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Robert Raben, executive director of the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative, applauded U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver’s (D-MO-5) introduction of an amendment to the Higher Education Act, that would mandate annual reporting on the ownership and management of asset management firms advising on hundreds of billions of endowment dollars, disaggregated data by race and gender. Rep. Cleaver’s amendment builds off his work to request diversity information from leading universities.

Robert Raben issued the following statement in response:

“Regrettably the most elite universities, with billions of dollars in endowments, purposefully provide misleading DEI data when reporting on who manages these assets. To mask the fact that they work with only handfuls of Black or Latino managers, the universities, when pressed to report, with rare exception, provide gross numbers for diversity, which lumps together all racial, ethnic, and gender demographics,” said Raben. “Rep. Cleaver’s amendment to the Higher Education Act will help provide the public the accurate information we need to have an honest conversation, which is why esteemed universities struggle to work with women and people of color.”