Last year, President Donald Trump eliminated all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program protections with one executive order. He then took it a step further by directing government officials to actively go after “illegal private sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities” across the private sector. In the wake of this regulatory whiplash, spooked corporate leaders began rapidly scaling back equity frameworks. They scrubbed inclusive language from their SEC filings and quietly dismantled hiring goals to avoid federal scrutiny.
Others leaned into the fight. Rather than passively carrying on business as usual, a defiant contingent of companies have aggressively defended inclusion frameworks as non-negotiables within their long-term business strategy. The following brands stand out not merely because they held the line on DEI amid historic political pressure, but because they’ve used their platform to make loud, unapologetic cases in defense of diversity as a permanent commercial asset.
Top Companies With DEI Initiatives
- Apple
- Costco Wholesale
- Microsoft
- Cisco
- Delta Air Lines
Top Companies with DEI Initiatives
Industry: Financial Technology
Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN) continues to expand its employee resource groups, supplier diversity and gender-neutral parental benefits while other financial firms have scaled back similar programs. Its risk and compliance platform institutionalizes these policies under its “Collective Genius” framework, which explicitly links things like 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave and diversified vendor spending directly to long-term talent retention as well as fintech innovation.
Industry: Food and Beverage
Ben & Jerry’s has a strong reputation when it comes to corporate activism. Launching pints like ‘Pecan Resist,’ ‘Empower Mint’ and ‘Change is Brewing’ that back causes ranging from voting rights to police reform, the ice cream maker publicly blasted corporate America for scaling back diversity initiatives, warning that companies “timidly bowing to the current political climate” risk making themselves fundamentally uncompetitive. The brand’s independent board is even suing its own parent company, Unilever, for censoring its public advocacy and blocking its attempts to call for an immediate Gaza cease-fire, complete with a watermelon sorbet in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Industry: Retail, Groceries
Costco has fought to keep its DEI programs intact on multiple fronts. After the grocery retailer persuaded shareholders to unanimously reject an anti-DEI proposal, it then had to publicly defend its policies against a legal challenge from 19 state attorneys general. In its response, Costco said its diversity programs are not only “appropriate and necessary” but also “rooted in respect” and align with its code of ethics that in fact strengthen the business.
Industry: Consumer Electronics, AI
Apple’s board of directors forcefully blocked a proposal that would have eliminated the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs, reading it as an inappropriate effort to “micromanage ordinary business decisions.” Investors overwhelmingly backed the board, reaffirming the tech giant’s commitment to maintaining “a culture of belonging where everyone can do their best work.” That vote made Apple one of the highest-profile companies to publicly defend DEI as many of its peers pulled back.
Industry: Travel
Unlike some of its major airline competitors that quietly reworked their DEI policies by shifting some language around, Delta has been exceptionally vocal. During quarterly earnings calls, top leadership explicitly doubled down, telling investors that DEI is an essential strategy for talent acquisition and refuses to scale it back.
Industry: Apparel
Patagonia released a definitive public statement condemning corporate retrenchment and explicitly reaffirming its justice, equity and antiracism policies. Patagonia says its unique ownership structure allows it to answer to the planet rather than a board or shareholders, and has vowed not to alter its climate or social commitments “regardless of who is in the White House.”
Industry: Automotive Technology
CarGurus has woven diversity commitments into its proprietary FAIR hiring framework — short for Fairness, Access, Inclusion and Representation. By hardcoding objective, data-driven guardrails into everything from the initial interviewing stage to down-the-line leadership promotion tracks, the automotive retailer bakes equity into its baseline operational standard rather than treating it like an optional HR fad.
Industry: Apparel
When conservative activists attempted to force Levi Strauss & Co. to dismantle its diversity programs, its board aggressively struck back, urging shareholders to reject the measure as an attack on core business values. Investors overwhelmingly backed the board, delivering a crushing 99 percent vote against the anti-DEI proposal and cementing inclusion as a permanent, non-negotiable metric for the jeans icon’s global talent recruitment and leadership pipeline.
Industry: Networking, Cybersecurity
CEO Chuck Robbins has repeatedly defended Cisco’s diversity strategy, saying the company performs better when employees bring different backgrounds and perspectives to the table. “You cannot argue with the fact that a diverse workforce is better,” Robbins said in an interview with Axios, “there’s too much business value.” The tech conglomerate continues to invest in employee resource groups, inclusive hiring and leadership development programs.
Industry: Semiconductors, Hardware
While tech peers scaled back on DEI, Intel’s leadership explicitly defended its global diversity goals as an operational necessity for addressing the global chip shortage. The chip maker transparently reports on its Rise 2030 goals, which mandate increasing women in technical roles to 40 percent and doubling the number of underrepresented minorities in senior leadership.
