CFA Institutes president headed for the exit after DEI sparks fury among members

Margaret Franklin, who took heat for her advocacy of controversial Diversity Equity and Inclusion policies as CEO of the CFA Institute, has announced that she is leaving the organization.The announcement, made last week in an email to the group’s 200,000 members, described Franklin’s departure as a “planned retirement.” Since 2019, she had been leading the organization known for administering the grueling exam that for decades has been a rite of passage for Wall Street analysts.A CFA spokesman said Franklin and the CFA board of directors “had been talking about this for a while.She will be an adviser for the rest of the year.” Through the spokesman, Franklin declined On The Money’s request for a comment.But her departure comes at a tumultuous time for the CFA Institute.

As early reported by On The Money, Franklin’s was behind a Diversity Equity and Inclusion code of conduct foisted on the institute’s members beginning back in 2023.The institute’s spokesman points out the code was voluntary.

But members complained to On The Money that Franklin and her team implored its adoption by big asset managers and top financial firms, including that they use race and gender as factors in job-related decisions including the promotion of wealth managers. The debate over the DEI code has led to an uprising against Franklin and her team running the CFA Institute to address what critics say are glaring abuses of corporate governance under her watch.Beside the pushback from membership, Franklin & Co., ran into changes in the law surrounding DEI.

Just after the code of conduct went into effect, the Supreme Court ruled that discrimination based on race and sex unconstitutional in a case involving college admissions. The Trump administration has cast further legal doubt on the use of DEI, either in an academic or corporate setting.Executive orders from the president rendering DEI a form of discrimination gave further legal heft to what SCOTUS ruled; if c...