Twitter hires Apple's director of inclusion and diversity

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

Jeffrey Siminoff, who was previously the director of worldwide inclusion and diversity at Apple, replaces Janet Van Huysse.

"Welcome to the flock," Twitter's vice president of human resources, Brian Schipper, tweeted on Monday.

Mr Siminoff's hiring comes as Twitter and other Silicon Valley companies face pressure to diversify their largely male, mostly white workforces. In its most recent report on the demographics of its workers, Twitter said 66 per cent of its global workforce was male and 59 per cent of US employees were white.

Ms Van Huysse had outlined 2016 diversity goals for Twitter that included boosting the overall proportion of female employees to 35 per cent and the number of women in leadership roles to 25 per cent from 22 per cent.

Mr Siminoff was not available for comment, Twitter said. He is a founder of Out Leadership, which works to include more members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in businesses.

In the tweet announcing her departure, Ms Van Huysse did not specify what she planned to do next except to say, "It's time for my next chapter." She had been with Twitter for six years.

REUTERS