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Monday, March 14, 2016

Symantec and HBCUConnect.com Gather Black Tech Leaders To Discuss Path To Greater Diversity

— West coast African American VIP networking event sees high caliber talent, great opportunities —

HBCU Connect and Symantec Tech Event

Attendees at the event

San Francisco Bay Area, CA — HBCUConnect.com, America’s original online network for community engagement and professional connections for alumni of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), recently partnered with the global leader in cybersecurity to host a fireside chat to discuss the need for greater diversity inside Silicon Valley tech companies.

Daniel Moss, President & Chief People Person of HBCU Connect, kicked off the event followed by a discussion with Symantec’s Executive VP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Scott Taylor, and VP, Corporate Responsibility & Chief Diversity Officer Cecily Joseph. Attending the event at Symantec’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA were more than 125 professionals from companies like Intel, Tesla, Apple, eBay, Yahoo, Google and others to discuss strategies for achieving diversity metrics.

The collaborative event marks the beginning of efforts on behalf of HBCUConnect.com and Symantec to help diversify Silicon Valley and was an opportunity for some of the most distinguished professionals on the west coast to interact with key HR staff and leadership excited to share a range of opportunities at Symantec as well as reinforce their commitment to a diverse workplace.

“Symantec has displayed a solid understanding of the value that diversity brings to the workplace and is among organizations leading the charge in identifying top prospects from among HBCU alumni and student audiences,” says Moss. “Companies willing to recruit outside of their traditionally targeted alumni networks and consider talent from more diverse networks such as the HBCUConnect.com alumni network, are finding that through our efforts the talent is out there and willing to engage when they know companies are serious about recruiting them. We are proud to partner with Symantec to extend such a great opportunity to our members.”

“We need to better own the issue of increasing representation of black talent at companies like ours,” says Cecily Joseph, Symantec’s Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer. “Certainly in technical roles, but also in roles like finance, operations, legal, and marketing. HBCUs have an incredible pool of talent that could help us fill those roles. But it’s about more than just our company – it’s important to start a dialogue with the entire industry, and find ways to help companies and individuals break through the barriers they’re facing.”

The opportunity to connect with representatives of Symantec’s diversity & inclusion and talent acquisition teams was especially valuable for event attendees, some of whom traveled cross-country to network and explore employment opportunities.

This event was orchestrated and hosted by HBCUConnect.com in conjunction with Symantec’s office of diversity and inclusion. This is the first such partnership between the two companies, though HBCUConnect.com has hosted a number of previous recruitment and networking events in alliance with other major tech firms and Fortune 500 companies.

For event photos and further information, visit:
www.flickr.com/photos/122647956@N06/albums/with/72157664305487132

 

About Symantec
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) is the global leader in cybersecurity. Operating one of the world’s largest cyber intelligence networks, we see more threats, and protect more customers from the next generation of attacks. We help companies, governments and individuals secure their most important data wherever it lives.


About HBCU Connect
HBCU Connect and its website HBCUConnect.com were created to help current students and alumni of America’s 105 Historically Black Colleges & Universities connect with colleagues and peers, as well as scholarships, internships and career opportunities. For more information, visit: www.HBCUConnect.com

 

For more information, (press and client inquiries only), contact Daniel Moss at HBCU Connect, 614-416-5517.