Google to invest $25 million over next five years to diversify Israeli tech workforce | Ctech – CTech

Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and Google, announced on Sunday that Google is funding a $25 million skilling initiative over five years to increase opportunities in Israels hi-tech sector for underrepresented groups, including women, Arab citizens, ultra-orthodox Jews and residents of the geographic periphery. Google will also announce an initiative for the Palestinian tech sector later this week.

Porat arrived in Israel Saturday evening and will be meeting with Israeli and Palestinian entrepreneurs and business leaders, policymakers and Google employees during her visit. Along with the United States Ambassador to Israel, Thomas R. Nides, she met today with women and Arab entrepreneurs, engineers and investors to hear about the challenges they have faced integrating into Israels hi-tech industry.

Porat joined Google as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in May 2015 and has also held the same title at Alphabet since it was created in October 2015. She is responsible for Finance, Business Operations and Real Estate & Workplace Services. Before joining Google, Porat was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Morgan Stanley and held roles there that included Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, Co-Head of Technology Investment Banking and Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group. Ruth is a member of the Board of Directors of Blackstone Inc., the Stanford Management Company and the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Board of Trustees of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She previously spent ten years on Stanford Universitys Board of Trustees. Ruth holds a BA from Stanford University, an MSc from The London School of Economics and an MBA from the Wharton School.

At Google, we believe that to have sustainable economic growth, you must have inclusive growth, said Ruth Porat, Alphabet and Google CFO. By providing members of underrepresented groups with a path into tech, we hope to help create a more diverse workforce, and increase opportunities for a broader group of people. We look forward to deepening our commitment to Israel as we work to support the government's ongoing efforts in this area.

My first meeting as Ambassador was with Arab business leaders in Israel to talk about increasing access to greater economic opportunities, and Googles announcement today is a strong practical step toward that goal, said U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides.

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Google to invest $25 million over next five years to diversify Israeli tech workforce | Ctech - CTech