Meet Maxine Williams: Facebook Global Director of Diversity

For four years Maxine Williams, global director of diversity for Facebook, has worked with her team to develop strategies to attract and support underrepresented people at the social media giant, which reaches a global community of more than 2 billion people.

This summer Williams told Facebook’s newsroom readers that, “We aren’t where we’d like to be, but we’re encouraged” by the growth of underrepresented employees at Facebook. Over the year the number of women on staff edged up, to 35%, as did Hispanic (5%) and African American representation (3%). She highlighted three programs Facebook is pursuing to ensure the company continues to find, grow, and keep the best talent. The innovative programs impact hiring managers, unconscious bias, and learning opportunities for college students.

The Race & Pedagogy Institute, African American Studies, Gender & Queer Studies, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and Communication Studies at University of Puget Sound invite the public to a free event with Maxine Williams, A Conversation on Diversity and the Tech Industry, 11 a.m.–12 noon on Wednesday, Dec. 13, in Wheelock Student Center’s Rasmussen Rotunda. The Rhodes Scholar, lawyer, broadcast journalist, and Facebook director will give a talk and take questions from the audience. Everyone is welcome. A link to directions and a map of campus is below.

Maxine Williams is the global director of diversity at Facebook. Her team works toward attracting and supporting underrepresented people and aims to increase the cognitive diversity—different ways of thinking based on people having different backgrounds, experiences, and information—of all teams across Facebook. Prior to joining Facebook, Williams served as director of diversity for a global law firm. She graduated from Yale University and received a law degree with first class honors from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She has worked as an attorney in criminal, civil, and industrial courts in both her native Trinidad and in the United Kingdom, at the Privy Council. She has worked with multiple international organizations on development and human rights issues, and has had a parallel career as a broadcast journalist and on-air presenter. Williams is a director on the board of the Massy Group of Companies.

For a directions and a map of the University of Puget Sound campus: pugetsound.edu/directions
For accessibility information please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu or 253.879.3931, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility.

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