Originally published by Gartner Research.

This report from Gartner Research provides insights to support the case for hiring a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO), including why and when most CEOs hire CDOs, what goals CDOs help accomplish and what successful CDOs look like. 

The research is drawn from Gartner Research's Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council as well as research on CEOs, boards and C-suites. Collectively, Gartner Research surveyed hundreds of heads of function and analyzed data on S&P 500 companies (large, publicly listed companies in the United States) to understand how organizations are investing in diversity and inclusion leadership

Key findings

• Over 12% of S&P 500 organizations have appointed a CDO in the past five years; of those appointed, more than 50% were in a newly created role.
• Even though CDOs work within the enterprise to accomplish their objectives, most CDOs (46%) report to the CHRO or chief culture officer, while only 3% report directly to the CEO.
• Because CDOs do not directly own the outcomes of D&I strategy as other functions do, if a CEO decides to hire a CDO, the executive must have extensive experience with influencing enterprise change.

Download the report.

Bibliographic information

Publisher: Gartner Research

Publication year: 2019

Region: United States