While
certainly not its biggest problem, Twitter has faced ongoing criticism for a lack of diversity among its ranks. To better address the issue, the social giant has hired Jeffrey Siminoff as its new vice
president of diversity and inclusion.
“Welcome to the flock,” Brian Schipper, Twitter’s head of human resources, tweeted to Siminoff on Monday. Siminoff is coming directly from
Apple, where he most recently served as director of worldwide inclusion and diversity.
Siminoff is replacing Janet Van Huysse, who has been with Twitter for about six years. Critics were
quick to point out the irony in replacing a woman with a white man to purportedly accelerate diversity.
Twitter is hardly the only tech giant facing ongoing criticism about its
dearth of women and minorities on the payroll.
Yet the company has recently been under exceptional pressure to rethink its hiring strategy. After an African-American engineer publicly
criticized Twitter’s efforts to advance diversity, its SVP of engineering Alex Roetter pledged to accelerate a related effort.
As of this summer, Twitter said men
made up 70% of its total workforce. In a statement released in July, Van Huysse said: “We are keenly aware that Twitter is part of an industry that is
marked by dramatic imbalances in diversity -- and we are no exception.”