Across the corporate landscape, Walmart, Boeing, Ford and Lowe's are among the industry titans that have eliminated or scaled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the face of pressure from anti-DEI activists fueled by recent lawsuits and court decisions.

With President-elect Trump returning to the White House soon—and appointing anti-DEI activists like Stephen Miller to his policy team—challenges to corporate DEI efforts are expected to continue rising in 2025, according to trend-watching experts at research firm i4cp and the Texas Diversity Council.

Chief diversity officers, specifically, expect increased pushback on their organizations' DEI plans and strategies from external anti-DEI activists in the New Year, according to an i4cp report released last week.