Nielsen Appoints Chief Diversity Officer

Nielsen’s David Kenny in an appearance on CNBC on Friday explained why he embedded the position of chief diversity officer into his responsibilities as chief executive officer of the marketing firm.

When asked his motive for leading the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, Kenny, who is White, said the top reason was “power.”

“There is no more powerful position than the CEO and, quite honestly, this isn’t going to change if the people with power don’t use that power to change it,” he said in a “Closing Bell” interview.


Kenny, who became chief executive in December 2018, first announced publicly that he added the title of chief diversity officer to his duties in an April 2019 proxy statement. The executive position was last held by Angela Talton, a Black woman who now owns a diversity and inclusion consultancy.

Culture and accountability are two other pillars of the chief diversity officer’s role, “to make sure we’re talking about inclusion” and “equality at every level, and that it is front and center in the board room and in the management room,” Kenny continued. “We can set hard targets for ourselves and make those transparent to our board and measure them like we measure other outcomes like financial results.” Kenny said Nielsen is “lucky” that about 38% of the company’s workforce in the U.S. is made up of people of color and that the company “has improved, but we also have targets at every level.” Additionally, 40% of Nielsen’s senior positions are filled by women and the New York-based company should increase that number to 50%, he added.