Tech Talk

MINORITY LEADERS ON WHAT INTEL’S $300 MILLION PLEDGE WILL MEAN TO TECH DIVERSITY

There is a lot of lip service given fixing Silicon Valley's diversity problem. But Intel CEO Brian Krzanich promised a bold move last week when he announced that his company was pledging $300 million to be used over the next three years to help eradicate the lack of diversity in the tech space. Krzanich’s announcement addressed both his company’s internal diversity issue—Intel’s workforce is 76% male and just 4% black and 8% Latino—and the greater issue for Silicon Valley at large. He said, by funding engineering scholarships, supporting historically black colleges and universities and other means yet to be specified, that he hopes "to reach full representation at all levels" in the next five years. The actual number is undefined, he says it would represent a gender and racial breakdown equal to the number of qualified workers in the field.

Apple And Intel Employees Work On MLK Day: Are Tech Diversity Efforts Sincere?

In their Golden Globes opening, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler delivered a rundown of the five films nominated for Best Motion Picture—Drama. While describing Selma as the story of the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, culminating in LBJ signing the Voting Rights Act...

The powerful woman behind Intel’s new $300 million diversity initiative

Intel president Renée James is building a pipeline of female and other groups of underrepresented engineers and computer scientists. Amidst the barrage of new TVs and connected fitness trackers unveiled at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas came a surprising announcement from chipmaker Intel: a $300 million investment in training and recruiting female and other groups of under-represented computer scientists.

IME ARCHIBONG: FACEBOOK EXEC DISCUSSES WHAT STARTUPS CAN LEARN ABOUT DIVERSITY FROM IBM

Ime Archibong is best known as the director of product partnerships at tech giant Facebook where he leads a team working to connect Facebook’s products and strategies with various business partners. Archibong and his team have worked on everything from the Facebook Messenger app to a relatively new initiative called Internet.org, which aims to connect the world to the internet. Prior to working at Facebook, Archibong attended Yale and Stanford and worked for several years at IBM, a global leader in not only technology, but diversity initiatives. We spoke with Archibong about his path to Facebook, the lessons that tech companies in their infancy can take from industry giants like IBM and why he has the utmost faith that Silicon Valley can and will solve its widespread diversity problems.