Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was confronted by Wall Street executives during a closed-door session at a conference over his past criticisms of diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI), according to a report.
Ackman held court during a series of discussions devoted to DEI at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on Monday.
A group of dozens of executives, which included some of Wall Street’s most senior minority corporate leaders, were vocally critical of Ackman for saying that DEI was “inherently a racist and illegal movement,” according to Bloomberg News.
Panelists and audience members who attended the invite-only event let Ackman know about their views during a private session held behind closed doors, Bloomberg News reported.
Ackman was speaking on a panel alongside Jarvis V. Hollingsworth, chair of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas; Miami Beach real estate executive Don Peebles; Guggenheim Investments President Dina DiLorenzo; and John Hope Bryant, who heads the financial literacy nonprofit Operation Hope Inc.
The Post has sought comment from Ackman, Hollingsworth, Peebles, DiLorenzo and Bryant.
Ackman gave a statement to Bloomberg News which read: “I have written thousands of words about my nuanced views on this important topic. I would ask that people read them to fully understand my perspective.”
Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management who has a net worth estimated by Forbes to be around $4.3 billion, began his crusade against DEI in response to the student-led pro-Palestinian protests at Harvard University and other elite colleges.
In response to Harvard’s alleged failure to crack down on antisemitism, Ackman threatened to withhold donations to the school as well as to enlist other CEOs in denying job opportunities to students who were found to have taken part in anti-Israel activities on campus.
During his appearance at the Beverly Hills conference, Ackman said that DEI was to blame for making people think that they were “oppressed” by others, including Jews, who were labeled as “oppressors,” according to Bloomberg News.
Ackman was met with push back by those who encouraged him to reframe his criticism, which they say undercuts diversity programs across the country, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.
Conference attendees reportedly told Ackman that his comments about DEI showed a poor understanding of the civil rights movement as well as the role of American Jews in helping blacks achieve equality in this country.
“We’re talking about expanding the table and adding a chair,” Bryant said in a post-event interview. He declined to elaborate.
After Harvard President Claudine Gay stepped down in early January, Ackman, who was one of Gay’s most vocal critics due to her response to anti-Israel student protesters on campus, wrote a lengthy post on X in which he stated that DEI “was not what I had naively thought” it was.
“I have always believed that diversity is an important feature of a successful organization, but by diversity I mean diversity in its broadest form: diversity of viewpoints, politics, ethnicity, race, age, religion, experience, socioeconomic background, sexual identity, gender, one’s upbringing, and more,” Ackman wrote.
Ackman criticized DEI as “reverse racism” against white people which “has become considered acceptable by many not to be racism.”
He said “that DEI was not about diversity in its purest form, but rather DEI was a political advocacy movement on behalf of certain groups.”
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