Denise Young Smith Takes on New Role as VP of Diversity and Inclusion at Apple

[MacRumors]

Denise Young Smith, who served as Apple's head of Worldwide Human Resources, has taken on a new role, according to her LinkedIn page. Going forward, Smith will tackle diversity issues at the company as Apple's Vice President for Inclusion and Diversity.

Denise Young Smith is Apple's vice president of Inclusion and Diversity at Apple. She reports to CEO Tim Cook.

Since joining Apple in 1997, Denise has served in several key HR roles. Most recently as Vice President of Worldwide Human Resources and Talent. For over 10 years, she sat on the leadership team that built Apple's retail organization, which now welcomes more than one million people every day. Apple stores have redefined the retail experience and their talented employees have become the face of Apple for customers around the world. Before retail, Denise ran HR for Apple's Worldwide Operations and Corporate Employee Relations teams.

According to an internal source that spoke to 9to5Mac, Smith has already taken on the new role at Apple, though her executive page on Apple's leadership site has yet to be updated. With Smith moving to her new role, Apple will have no head of HR, a role that Luca Maestri, Apple CFO, will temporarily fill.

Smith, who has been with Apple for more than 20 years, will report directly to Tim Cook. As HR head, Smith has already been involved in many diversity programs at Apple and her new role suggests Apple is taking diversity and inclusion more seriously.

Apple's previous head of diversity and inclusion, Jeffrey Siminoff, was in a director role that reported to Smith, but Smith's position is executive level, which TechCrunch says represents a "significant upscaling of responsibility" compared to the role Siminoff previously held.

According to Apple's latest worldwide diversity numbers, the company is 68 percent male and 32 percent female, while in the U.S., employees are 56 percent white, 19 percent Asian, 12 percent Hispanic, and nine percent black.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Denise Young Smith Takes on New Role as VP of Diversity and Inclusion at Apple

 

[Rocco83]

I'm not sure of every other black, or minorities, experience; but I have had zero issues with the color of my skin holding me back. Hard work and skill has propelled me along my way. I feel this world is getting too soft with inclusion being necessary in everything. Less Kumbaya and more competition.

If Apple wants to worry about diversity, how about they ad some more diversity to their port options on their Pro version of their laptops.

 

[LordQ]

So, more diverse emoji too?

 

[Paul Dawkins]

I'm not sure of every other black, or minorities, experience; but I have had zero issues with the color of my skin holding me back. Hard work and skill has propelled me along my way. I feel this world is getting too soft with inclusion being necessary in everything. Less Kumbaya and more competition.

If Apple wants to worry about diversity, how about they ad some more diversity to their port options on their Pro version of their laptops.

Indeed this is one big nonsense.

 

[stevet]

I don't understand this, does Apple bypass people with diverse backgrounds in favor of white people with the same experience or is Apple just trying to meet a quota?

 

[Paul Dawkins]

I don't understand this, does Apple bypass people with diverse backgrounds in favor of white people with the same experience or is Apple just trying to meet a quota?

Good question. In a normal world you hire people best for the job, not people of certain skin colour. Qualification is the deciding factor, maybe character is too, but not the skin colour or **** like that.

 

[Porco]

Good luck to her in her new role. The constant negative reactions to anything mentioning diversity and inclusion from some on these on these forums prove how much further society has to go on these issues - I for one am glad Apple appears to be paying attention to them.

I believe promoting diversity and inclusion is not only the right thing to, it's the smart thing to do. Wanting Apple to pay more attention to its computers (which I would agree with), or whatever else, doesn't mean they should (or have to) ignore social issues, both within the company and in a wider context - indeed, I believe the two things are complementary, not in opposition.

A diverse and inclusive company is one where ideas and creativity can flow more freely, staff will be happier, and everyone can concentrate on making great products. Isn't that what we all want?

 

[FactVsOpinion]

It feels odd to me that people placed in charge of diversity always seem to have to be blatant tokens of diversity themselves.

 

[meaning-matters]

Off topic: That's a great portrait.

 

[macsrcool1234]

most pointless job on the planet.

make a few million stirring up tensions! sign me up!

 

[k2director]

What Apple says: “Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion"

What Apple means: "Vice President of Racial Quotas, Racial Shaming (ie, so-called white privilege), and a thought-police culture that punishes employees if they dare step off the politically-correct line."

 

[Paul Dawkins]

We clearly need more diversity in the NBA

 

[GeekLawyer]

I was coming to gripe that this was placed into PRS. Then I read the responses above. Wow.

 

[barkomatic]

If she can bring in more qualified, minority applicants who have the skills to do excellent work that would otherwise have been passed over, then this is a good move.

My understanding of the problem at tech companies is that members of the targeted minority groups don't possess these skills or are uninterested so that issue would need to be addressed first.

 

[crsh1976]

I don't understand this, does Apple bypass people with diverse backgrounds in favor of white people with the same experience or is Apple just trying to meet a quota?

Both, the issue is that it's really 95% PR/political correctness.

 

[filmantopia]

For people who question the need for this: Do you believe the lack of diversity in silicon valley (and other positions of power around the US) is simply a result of certain races not being as genetically smart or hard working as white people?

 

[meaning-matters]

Apple says: "Diversity - Inclusion inspires innovation."

Awkward thumbnail with Tim Cook holding the Mac Pro.

 

[goobot]

Hire people based off how well they can do the job. Ignore anything that has to do with them in anyother way. Anything else is prejudice regardless if you're hiring black, white, hispanic, male, female and so on. You're still going out of your way to hire a person based off what they are and look like. If you are truly free of prejudice it wouldn't make a difference in any way with exception to the persons skill.

 

[You are the One]

All hail to the Social Justice Warriors!

 

[TMRJIJ]

There's a Thin line between Diversity and 'Over the top' Political Correctness. I hope Denise does right in her new role.

I want my Employer to hire me based on my skills and hard work not based on my skin color or sex
I also want every police officer to know that I have cameras on me and in my car so they should think twice before trying any funny business.

Other than that, I'm a pretty happy camper.

PS: Please READ the article. This role is not some new made up thing. The previous guy was white and now works at Twitter in the same position.

 

[Paul Dawkins]

Well bill C16 passed in Canada so the idiocy stopped surprising me.

 

[nfl46]

Omg. I am so happy and proud of Denise! She is such a great person to be around.

First VP to report directly to Tim. So, he clearly wants to be hands-on with this since Apple gets so much crap about their diversity.

Good luck, Denise! I'm sure she will do well!

 

[RudySnow]

So, in having to create this position, is Apple blatantly admitting that their hiring managers are inherently racist and homophobic? If so, the problem isn't with lack of diversity in the company but the lack of talent acquisition skills among their HR staff.

 

[Juicy Box]

I was coming to gripe that this was placed into PRS. Then I read the responses above. Wow.

Why would you gripe about this article being placed into the PRS section?

The whole article is about social issues.

 

[mcfrazieriv]

Companies should be hiring people based on their talent, level of experience and ability.

This nonsense diverse crap is pure racism. I understand that employers have been racist and preferred certain ethnicities in the past. That is terrible. But to line up candidate resumes on a desk and to pick the ones based on which box they checked for skin color is itself racism.

It says that because I'm white, that I don't fulfill a requirement for the job. It says that because they already have too many white people working for the company, that I do not have an element they are requiring. Something I have absolutely no power to change. How is that any different than telling someone they cannot qualify for a job because they are black?