A. We have long heard the cry for diverse corporate boards but one area has been
overlooked. We should be able to have a seat at the board table of America's
mutual fund companies—companies that are managing our own money.

B. Nearly 91 million Americans own mutual funds-that is 1 out of every 3
Americans or nearly 50% of US households.

C. Fidelity Investments of Boston is said the managed 10% of America's retirement
has nearly $1 trillion in assets.

D. Less than 1% of the mutual fund directors are from minority groups.

E. Mutual funds are owned by their shareholders-not the companies that manage
them. Likewise, they are controlled by their boards of directors.

F. Minority mutual fund directors would be able to encourage corporate diversity in
hiring practices which would increase representation.

G. Minority mutual fund directors would be able to encourage outreach to minority
investors which is largely an untapped market. Black Americans are
underinvested in the stock market which has been proven to be the best
performing investment since 1926. More specifically, according to the 2004
Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey, 68% of African Americans earning more
than $50,000 in household income own stock or stock mutual funds,
(considerably up from 2003(61%), it is still less than 2002's all-time high of
(74%)) compared to 81% of our white counterparts at the same income level.
Inevitably, this disparity leaves us with less total wealth, lower 401k plan
balances and less financial security.

H. Fortune 1,000 Companies (source:www.bsr.org)
Together, women and minorities contribute more than $1.5 trillion annually to
the U.S. economy, and studies estimate that women make up to 70 percent of the
consumer decisions in the United States

a. Roughly 12,000 board seats among Fortune 1,000 companies
b. Average turnover is 15%
c. Average turnover rate create a need for 1,800 new directors/year
d. 60% of US Fortune 1,000 industrial and service corporations have at
least 1 ethnic minority
e. 39% have at least 1 African American
f. 12% have at least 1 Hispanic
g. 9% have at least 1 Asian
Although women and minorities continue to account for only a small percentage of the total number of corporate directors (in the United States, approximately 11 and 7 percent of Fortune 500 companies, respectively), their representation on corporate boards has been increasing slowly over the last 15 years

I. Number of Board Seats for companies trading over the NYSE, NASDAQ and
AMEX

a. 60,000 seats
b. Average turnover rate is 15%
c. Average turnover rate provides for 9,000 potential board seat vacancies per year

J. Minorities (Women)

a. In 2004, women held 13.6% of all board seats in Fortune 500 companies
b. Women of color hold 3% or 145 of the board seats of the 415 Fortune 500 companies
(1) 104 seats held by African American women
(2) 29 seats held by Hispanic women
(3) 12 seats held by Asian American women

K. The number of seats held by women of color increased from 2.5% in 1999 to 3%
in 2003. L. Of the S&P 1,500 Companies:

a. 63% have at least one women on the Board of Directors
b. 35% have at least one minority representative on the Board of Directors
c. 29% of the S&P 1,500 companies have no race or gender diversity on their board.