Twitter Names Siminoff as New Diversity Chief

Twitter has been criticized by employees for its lack of diversity, most recently by former engineering manager Leslie Miley, who was laid off from the company in October.

Siminoff had held similar roles at Apple and Morgan Stanley for the past several years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Siminoff will replace outgoing diversity chief Janet Van Huysse, and is expected to begin work in January, according to TechCrunch.

Twitter Inc hired a former Apple Inc employee as its vice president of diversity and inclusion, the micro-blogging site announced.

Twitter is expected to increase diversity within its board of directors as Peter Currie’s and Peter Chernin’s terms expire next year, Fortune reported. Siminoff previously worked for Apple as the company’s head of diversity, and also helped launch Out Leadership, a transgender, gay, and lesbian advocacy group. She announced her departure Monday in a Tweet that stated, “After 6 incredible years, it’s time for my next chapter”. By 2016, the company aimed to increase the proportion of female employees to 35 percent worldwide, as well as to increase underrepresented minorities in its US workforce to 11 percent, she added.

Many people have been pushing tech companies to go outside of the traditional workforce for them – affluent white males with at least a Master’s degree.

Miley wrote that black adults accounted for about a quarter of Twitter’s users, but black employees made up about 2 percent of the company’s workforce.

Four months ago, Van Huysse indicated on Twitter’s corporate blog (in a post entitled “We’re committing to a more diverse Twitter”) that the company planned to increase the number of African-Americans and Hispanics in technology roles to nine percent and in leadership roles to six percent. He noted that Twitter provided a platform for hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and #Ferguson.