State Treasurer Shawn Wooden is leading a new regional partnership dedicated to increasing gender, racial and ethnic diversity on corporate boards in the Northeast.

Rhode Island Treasurer Seth Magaziner said Wednesday that companies with stronger diversity at the senior level tend to outperform companies lacking diverse leaders.

The Northeast Investors’ Diversity Initiative includes the treasurers of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont, the New York City comptroller and investors and asset managers in New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Magaziner says that with more than $283 billion in assets under management in total, the investor coalition intends to leverage their corporate relationships and shareholder rights to encourage boardroom diversity and inclusion.