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TECHNOLOGY Saturday 27 May 2017
Serena Williams accepts a new challenge - in Silicon Valley

MICHAEL LIEDTKE disappointed that the vast
AP Technology Writer majority of high-paying
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — technology jobs are filled
Tennis star Serena Williams by white and Asian men.
has 39 Grand Slam titles, At SurveyMonkey, which
four Olympic medals, ma- employs about 650 work-
jor endorsement deals and ers, only 27 percent of
her own line of clothing technology jobs are filled
and accessories. Now she by women. Just 14 percent
is embarking on a new mis- of its total payroll consists
sion: She says she wants to of African-Americans, La-
help tech companies di- tinos or people identifying
versify their workforces and themselves with at least
solve one of the industry’s two races, according to
most vexing problems. numbers the company
Williams, 35, will get her provided to the AP.
chance as she joins a Sili- WHAT SHE CAN DO
con Valley boardroom. Williams’ appointment is
Online survey service Sur- part of the solution, ac-
veyMonkey announced cording to SurveyMonkey
Williams’ appointment to CEO Zander Lurie. “My fo-
its board on Wednesday, cus is to bring in change
along with Intuit CEO Brad agents around the table
Smith. In this Jan. 28, 2017, file photo, Serena Williams holds up a finger and her trophy after defeating who can open our eyes,”
“I feel like diversity is some- her sister, Venus, in the women’s singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships in Mel- he said.
thing I speak to,” Williams bourne, Australia. Diversity advocates say
said in an interview with Associated Press women and minorities add
The Associated Press. the company — and, by liams will be compensated. forces , despite the efforts value to corporate boards
“Change is always hap- extension, the industry as a VALLEY DIVERSITY of companies such as — as well as companies’
pening; change is always whole — in a more diverse Silicon Valley’s lack of di- Google, Apple and Face- executive ranks — by offer-
building. What is important direction. Individual board versity has become a re- book to fix the problem. ing new perspectives and
to me is to be at the fore- members don’t usually ex- curring source of embar- Williams has been hang- advocating for a broader
front of the change and to ert great influence over the rassment in a region that ing around Silicon Valley range of a company’s
make it easier for the next companies they oversee, has long sought to posi- more frequently now that stakeholders, whether
person that comes behind although they are often tion itself as an egalitarian she is engaged to high- that’s customers, share-
me.” Williams didn’t offer compensated handsomely place that doesn’t favor tech entrepreneur, Alexis holders or employees.
specifics about her goals in cash and stock for their one gender, ethnicity or Ohanian, the co-founder In a report on France’s
as a corporate director. part-time work. SurveyMon- race over another. Yet that of the online forum Reddit. quota requirements for
She implied that her very key, a private company, philosophy hasn’t been re- Like many other African- corporate boards, the
presence can help push didn’t say how much Wil- flected in high-tech work- Americans, she says she’s business research group
Conference Board found
G7 leaders pressure tech firms on removing terror propaganda that the real value of add-
ing women came from
the fact that they were
DAVID McHUGH posed by the Islamic State is spreading online,” May technology companies more likely to be outsiders.
Associated Press group “is evolving rather said. “Make no mistake, both could do more and
TAORMINA, Sicily (AP) — than disappearing.” the fight is moving from the have the responsibility to They were more likely to
be foreigners, have exper-
Leaders of the Group of “As they lose ground in Iraq battlefield to the internet.” act.
Seven wealthy democra- and Syria, foreign fight- She said terror propa- In their declaration, the tise in more diverse busi-
ness issues than men and
cies on Friday put pressure ers are returning, and the ganda is “warping young leaders said they were
on internet companies group’s hateful ideology minds” and that she thinks targeting “propaganda more likely to have risen
through the ranks outside
and social media sites to supporting terrorism and
do more to stop the spread violent extremism, online traditional networks, such
as elite universities. This, in
of “hateful ideology,” ap- recruitment by extremists,
pealing to their sense of so- radicalization and incite- itself, can “substantively”
improve the collective de-
cial responsibility to more ment to violence.” They
swiftly identify and remove said they would work also cision-making of a board,
according to the report.
terror propaganda. with youth and religious
The measure signed by the leaders, prisons and edu- Williams’ celebrity may
help draw attention to the
seven nations’ leaders was cational institutions toward
a show of solidarity with that end. lack of diversity on corpo-
rate boards themselves,
Britain following Monday’s They also agreed in the
suicide bombing in Man- declaration to strengthen said Brande Stellings, vice
corporate
president
of
chester, England that killed the process for returning
22 outside a pop music foreign fighters operating board services for Catalyst,
a group focused on fight-
concert. The Islamic State in Europe to their countries
group claimed the attack, of origin, to better share ing for women’s rights at
work. For instance, African-
although authorities are From left, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President intelligence on individu-
working to establish the Donald Trump, President of the EU Council Donald Tusk, Presi- als who have trained in Is- American women occupy
dent of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, British Prime
only 122 of the more than
bombing suspect’s ties to Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and lamic State territory, and to
extremist organizations. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe watch the Frecce Tricolori do more to cut off funding 5,000 board seats among
500
Fortune
compa-
British Prime Minister The- Italian Air Force acrobatic squadron, in Taormina, Italy, Friday, streams they called “the
resa May said the lead- May 26, 2017. lifeblood of violent extrem- nies, based on Catalyst’s
ers agreed that the threat Associated Press ists and terrorists.”q analysis.q