Salesforce’s Marc Benioff Has Kicked Off New Era of Corporate Social Activism in North Carolina

When North Carolina passed its law in March restricting certain gay rights, Marc Benioff was ready with his rapid-deployment response.

The Salesforce.com Inc. chief executive blasted out tweets criticizing the law. He called on other CEOs to speak out and dispatched staff to work with state officials and rights groups. Under pressure from many quarters, Gov. Pat McCrory soon sought to pare the law’s scope.

It was the kind of show of force that has made Mr. Benioff a master promoter in the movement toward social activism among American chief executives, one that’s increasingly influential despite resistance from those in its focus and some disquiet from Salesforce’s investors and directors.

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Mr. Benioff then turned his guns on North Carolina’s law that limits antidiscrimination protections for lesbians, gays and transgender people and includes provisions requiring everyone to use public bathrooms based on birth sex.

This time, he wasn’t doing all the calling. Companies approached him and his staff for advice. North Carolina’s Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper called Salesforce to discuss the law, which had drawn lawsuits against the state. Mr. Cooper “looked to Salesforce because he wanted them to know that this is not who North Carolina is, and that we are fighting against this discriminatory law,” says Megan Jacobs, deputy campaign manager for Mr. Cooper, who is challenging Gov. McCrory for the governorship.

Mr. Cooper on March 29 refused to defend the state law, saying in a news conference that it “will set North Carolina’s economy back.”

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h./t Dee S