From tennis court to tech company’s boardroom
Serena Williams to focus on diversity file
• Tennis star Serena Williams has 39 Grand Slam titles, four Olympic medals and her own line of clothing and accessories. Now she is embarking on a new mission: She says she wants to help tech companies diversify their workforces.
Williams, 35, will get her chance as she joins a Silicon Valley boardroom. Online survey service SurveyMonkey announced Williams’ appointment to its board this week.
“I feel like diversity is something I speak to,” Williams said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Change is always happening; change is always building. What is important to me is to be at the forefront of the change and to make it easier for the next person that comes behind me.”
Williams didn’t offer specifics about her goals as a corporate director. She implied that her very presence can help push the company — and, by extension, the industry as a whole — in a more diverse direction.
Board members don’ t usually exert great influence over the firms they oversee, although they are often compensated handsomely. SurveyMonkey, a private company, didn’t say how much Williams will be compensated.
Silicon Valley’s lack of diversity has become a recurring source of embarrassment in a region that has long sought to position itself as an egalitarian place that doesn’t favour one gender, ethnicity or race over another. Yet that philosophy hasn’t been reflected in hightech workforces, despite the efforts of companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook to fix the problem.
At SurveyMonkey, which employs about 650 workers, only 27 per cent of technology jobs are filled by women. Just 14 per cent of its total payroll consists of African- Americans, Latinos or people identifying themselves with at least two races, according to numbers the company provided to the AP.
Williams’ appointment is part of the solution, according to SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie. “My focus is to bring in change agents around the table who can open our eyes,” he said.
Williams said: “I have been really interested in getting involved in Silicon Valley for years, so I have been kind of in the wading waters,” Williams said. “Now, I am jumping into the deep end of the pool. When I do something, I go all out.”