Alexis Ohanian & Reddit Welcome 1st Black Board Member, Michael Siebel

Alexis Ohanian, Michael Seibel

Alexis Ohanian And Reddit Welcome 1st Black Board Member, Michael  Seibel

Social networking giant, Reddit, has announced it’s first black board member, Michael Seibel.

Alexis Ohanian, who recently resigned from the board to make way for a black person, welcomed the CEO and partner of Y Combinator which first helped launch Reddit in 2005. His Twitter post reads,

Pleased to see @mwseibel has joined the @Reddit board.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with him during my time at @ycombinator.

He is a strong leader who will make a great addition to the board.  

Michael Siebel replied,

Thank you Alexis

Reddit made the announcement that the entrepreneur will be joining as their newest Board member on June 10.  A Reddit tweet stated,

Welcome to the Reddit family, @mwseibel! Joining as our newest Board member, Michael brings an extensive background in growing social tech companies and is passionate about increasing diversity within the industry. Read more in our latest blog.

 

Michael Siebel further stated his appreciation on the Reddit blog.  He said,

“I want to thank Steve, Alexis, and the entire Reddit board for this opportunity. I’ve known Steve and Alexis since 2007 and have been a Reddit user ever since. Over this period of time I’ve watched Reddit become part of the core fabric of the internet and I’m excited to help provide advice and guidance as Reddit continues to grow and tackle the challenges of bringing community and belonging to a broader audience.”

This comes on the heels of tennis star, Serena Williams’ husband, and co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian resigning from the position early this month (June 4) and urging Reddit to fill his position with a black person. He made the announcement in a video on social media.

Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams

He captioned his video post,

“I co-founded @reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging.?
It is long overdue to do the right thing. I’m doing this for me, for my family, and for my country.
I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: “What did you do?” I have resigned as a member of the reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate, and I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate, and I’m starting with a pledge of $1M to @kaepernick7’s @yourrightscamp?. I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now. To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.”

 

After his resignation, Serena Williams opened up about the decision.  She said,

“He recently has stepped down from the reddit board and that was something that was I think shocking to everyone definitely shocking to me.”

What do you think of Michael Siebel’s new position?  Type your thoughts in the comments below!