In his 2015 CES Keynote, Intel CEO announced Brian Krzanich announced a $300 million investment in training and recruiting female and other groups of under-represented computer scientists. The goal is to achieve “full representation” of women and minorities by 2020 at Intel and within the Intel supplier pipelines. The Intel announcement follows other diversity initiatives that were started in 2014 at Google ($50M), NVIDIA, and others. Studies show that even sought-after technology careers at leading companies are not attracting young women at Google (17% women, 83% men), Apple (20% women, 80% men), Twitter (10% women, 90% men), Facebook (15% women, 85% men), Yahoo (15% women, 85% men).
(Image courtesy CES)
Intel president Renée James will be the one handling the day-to-day oversight of the investment. James, the highest-ranking woman in Intel’s history and was ranked 21st on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list. She is quoted in Forbes as saying, “I wasn’t sure that CES was the right venue for this and then we decided there really wasn’t a right venue”.
Intel President Renée James (Image courtesy Intel)
Diverse Ethnicity Initiatives: African American, Hispanic and Native American
Programs to help develop and retain ethnically diverse employees include leadership conferences, mentor programs and the extremely successful Blueprint for Excellence program—a comprehensive nine month leadership development series designed to provide actionable tools for advancing the careers of African American, Hispanic, and Native American employees. The Network of Intel African American employees, Intel Latino Network and Intel Native American Network are employee resource groups that play integral roles in the development and retention initiatives, as do the Intel Black and Hispanic Leadership councils who serve as role models, sponsors, and advisors.
Diverse Ability
The programs to attract and retain individuals with disabilities center on the Intel Diverse Abilities Network employee resource group. Providing resources not only for their members, the Diverse Ability Network also drives educational events for Intel employees both locally and globally.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer
Intel is committed to building awareness and inclusion around the LGBTQ community of employees. Intel’s LGBTQ employee resource group creates allies and mentors for LGBTQ employees, educates employees, and others on the unique experiences of members of this community, and brings visibility to Intel’s diversity leadership externally.
Women
Intel strives to deliver programs that foster development and retention and leverage Intel’s female executives as visible, proactive role models. The Women at Intel Network (WIN), an employee resource group with chapters located all over the world, plays a key role in developing our women employees. Intel’s Network of Executive Women (INEW) advances women’s initiatives and champions’ efforts that are focused on identifying, mentoring, and developing talent. Successful programs include Command Presence Workshop, Women’s Principal Engineer & Fellows Forum and Act Now: Create Possibilities for Women and Girls/10 X 10.
Veterans
Intel recognizes that military service exposes veterans to critical, transferrable skills that are highly valued in the technology industry, and seeks to be the tech employer of choice for veterans and their families. The real-world, practical experience that veterans bring to our workplace embodies the attributes that support leadership, dedication, and “possibility thinking.” Currently this initiative supports programs both inside and outside of Intel, including a nationwide mentoring program through America Corporate Partners which connects veterans with professionals from top corporations and select universities.
Leave a Reply