Two HP Directors Land Savoy’s Power 300 List

By Rhea Mathew, Communications and Public Relations Manager, HP News

At a time when racial divisions in the U.S. – and other parts of the world – seem to be more prevalent, HP is quietly taking pride in the work that it’s doing to bring about change. For a company the size of HP, one of the areas where it can have the biggest impact is in its hiring practices – from entry-level positions to the executive ranks.

Diversity and inclusion are important at HP. And it’s most obvious at the highest level – the company’s Board of Directors, which is considered to be the most diverse of any other technology company in Silicon Valley. Of HP’s 13 board members, two are African American, one is Latina and several are from South Asia.

Now, Savoy Magazine, a culture, business and lifestyle publication targeted at African-Americans is recognizing HP’s efforts by including its two African-American directors - Stacy Brown-Philpot and Stacey Mobley - on its list of the 300 Most Influential Black Corporate Directors in the U.S.

The comprehensive Power 300 list, which recognizes top U.S. business leaders and emphasizes their contributions to African American success and achievement also seeks to “chronicle these inspiring executives, their distinguished careers and the corporations that demonstrate inclusive board composition,” said Savoy Chief Executive and Publisher L.P. Green.

The recognition is especially important for an industry that has been plagued by the #TechSoWhite hashtag that has been used across social media to illustrate the lack of diversity in some of tech’s biggest names. Nationwide, large companies across all industries have been criticized for their lack of diversity in the executive ranks.

The Harvard Business Review recently noted that some 95 percent of CEOs and roughly 85 percent of board members and executives are white men. Findings like those are what makes HP’s commitment to driving diversity and inclusion at the highest levels of the company so important.

HP’s commitment to diversity

HP is committed to maintaining diverse representation, no matter the level of the employee in the company. The company is a vocal champion of inclusive hiring by “walking the walk:” It is bringing in more women, more people of color and of differing physical abilities than many of its peers.

"HP’s diversity effort is a proven business strategy that ensures the company will continue to drive innovation."

Lesley Slaton Brown, Chief Diversity Officer at HP 

“We have people with different perspectives and views. Those matter,” Slaton Brown said on a technology and diversity panel at last month’s Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo.

Still, she said, “There’s plenty of work left to do.”

HP’s board members Stacy Brown-Philpot and Stacey Mobley have both served as HP directors since HP split from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise in late 2015.

Brown-Philpot has served as the chief executive officer of Taskrabbit, a web-based platform that connects people who need chores done with people willing to complete them, since April of this year. She previously served as its COO since 2013. Prior to that, Brown-Philpot served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Google Ventures and was senior director of global consumer operations at Google. Prior to joining Google in 2003, she served as a senior analyst and senior associate at the financial firms Goldman Sachs and Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Mobley has served as Senior Counsel and advisor at Dickstein Shapiro, LLP, a law firm, since 2008. Previously, he spent 35 years at chemical company DuPont where he served in a variety of leadership roles including as senior vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel.