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Ellen Pao joins Kapor Center to help diversify tech

The outspoken former Reddit CEO will serve as Kapor's chief diversity officer.

Terry Collins Staff Reporter, CNET News
Terry writes about social networking giants and legal issues in Silicon Valley for CNET News. He joined CNET News from the Associated Press, where he spent the six years covering major breaking news in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before the AP, Terry worked at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and the Kansas City Star. Terry's a native of Chicago.
Terry Collins
2 min read
Watch this: Ellen Pao is moving on and hoping to set the record straight

Add another title to Ellen Pao's portfolio.

The outspoken former Reddit CEO tweeted Tuesday she will serve as chief diversity and inclusion officer for Kapor Center for Social Impact in Oakland. She will also have a role as partner with the center's venture capital arm, Kapor Capital.

"We are thrilled to have Ellen on our team," Freada Kapor Klein, partner at the Kapor Center, said in a statement. "While her long list of talents and accomplishments make her an excellent fit for this role, it is her values, her courage and her leadership skills that will prove enormously valuable."

Pao shared similar praise for the Kapors, who are renown for their activism in tech.

"They are solving hard problems at scale," she said. "So many people in tech talk about the need for diversity, but the Kapors walk that talk and help startups do the same."

It's the latest position for Pao, who stirred up Silicon Valley and made international headlines after she lost a high-profile discrimination case against VC power Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers two years ago. She was later removed as chief executive at social news site Reddit.

Since then, Pao has been increasingly vocal about inclusion in tech. Last year, she enlisted Kapor Klein and six other outspoken female tech leaders to form the nonprofit, Project Include, whose objective is to help diversify the industry.

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