Microsoft CEO Vows to Hire More People Who Are Not White or Male

Microsoft’s workforce, like most other big tech companies, is largely white and male. On Wednesday, CEO Satya Nadella promised to change that.

He told investors at the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting:

“We are focused on ensuring that Microsoft will be the best place to work for smart, curious people across cultures, genders, ethnicities, and lifestyles. We will make progress every year towards building a more diverse workforce and creating opportunities at every level of the company for all of Microsoft’s employees.”

It’s not an accident that he was talking about this.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the company’s largest shareholder, was sitting in the audience next to Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was given the stage to read remarks asking Microsoft to do a better job hiring minorities.

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When it comes to that diversity data, Microsoft, with over 100,000 employee in 190 countries, is pretty typical of the tech industry: Overall its workforce is made up of 71% men and 29% women; they are 60% white, 29% Asian and 11% other races. In technical roles, 83% are men to 17% women, with 57% of them white and 35% Asian. As far as leadership roles, 83% of those roles are held by men and 72% are white.

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Here’s Jackson speaking at the meeting while Ballmer looks on.