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The U.S. Supreme Court may have only struck down colleges’ and universities ability to use affirmative action to make sure their student bodies are more diverse, but the head of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is warning that the ruling could threaten local companies’ efforts to diversify their workforces.

Previous state-level bans on affirmative action at higher education institutions have resulted in less diverse student bodies going forward. That, Chamber President and CEO Jim Rooney wrote in an open letter Thursday, spells trouble for the many companies that need college graduates, and that also want to make sure applicant pools for their job openings are racially diverse.

“By limiting the efforts to diversify campuses across the country, employers will have a less diverse pipeline for the recruitment and hiring of employees. More diverse teams and workplaces – in every industry – are more productive and profitable, and a workplace culture that is fortified by the pillars of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles are stronger and more successful,” Rooney said.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority restricted race-based admissions in a pair of cases related to policies at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, respectively the first private and public universities in the country.

Those policies, which supporters have touted as a way to diversify campuses and correct for structural factors that put students of color at a disadvantage compared to their peers, run afoul of the Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement that all Americans be provided equal protection under the law, the court ruled.

It’s also possible the court’s decision could have future ramifications for corporate diversity initiatives, Rooney said. Many local companies, including banks and real estate firms, have concluded in recent years that they need diverse workforces to make sure they can connect with a broad range of potential customers, in addition to the benefits Rooney outlined in his letter.

In response, Rooney urged chamber members to “recommit” to making investments in inclusion in their workplaces and hiring practices and “remind our workforce, Board members, and all stakeholders of our ongoing commitment to equity.”

“This moment requires bold action, big steps forward, and determination to handle the hard work ahead,” he said.

Rooney suggested companies lean on apprenticeship programs and “hiring that centers equity,” keep working to diversify their supplier bases, train their existing workforces in diversity and inclusion topics and “champion the next generation of leaders to ensure transformative access and connections.”

Rooney was joined by a who’s who of Massachusetts civic, educational and political leaders in condemning the ruling, from Gov. Maura Healey on down.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell recalled instances when she was the only Black student in her classroom at Princeton University, and said her inclusion benefited not just her but her white classmates as well.

The court’s decision, Campbell said, was “couched in fear and fear-mongering.”

“This idea that if you are helping benefit a population of folks that have been marginalized since the beginning of time in this country that you’re somehow unfairly taking something away from someone else – it’s a false narrative,” she said.

State House News Service staff writers Chris Lisinski, Sam Drysdale and Alison Kuznitz contributed to this report.