General Motors Co. has appointed two new directors, including tech industry veteran Meg Whitman, her first high-profile move since the unraveling of her media startup Quibi Holdings LLC last year.
GM said Thursday that Ms. Whitman, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and eBay Inc., and Mark Tatum, the NBA’s deputy commissioner, joined the board with immediate effect. 51-year-old Mr. Tatum has been the NBA’s Chief Operating Officer since 2014, overseeing the league’s push into international markets.
The appointments contribute to a GM board that has lauded corporate governance groups for its diversity, especially the inclusion of women, who now hold seven of the 13 board seats. That includes CEO and Chairman Mary Barra.
According to the 50/50 Women on Boards advocacy group, the automaker is one of the 5% of companies in the Russell 3000 Index – which includes nearly all publicly traded American companies – where at least half of its directors are women.
The topic of diversity in governance has come into sharper focus in the past year amid broader debates about social inequality and racial injustice.