- Salesforce quietly released diversity executive Jacalyn Chapman in May, sources tell Insider.
- The company told some employees Chapman’s role was being eliminated, one of the people said.
- Salesforce is facing a discrimination lawsuit from another diversity executive.
Salesforce terminated the employment of a popular diversity, equity, and inclusion executive in May, people familiar with the matter told Insider. The people asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters.
Jacalyn Chapman spent 12 years at Salesforce and was most recently vice president of equality, employee advocacy, and belonging. Although the circumstances of her termination are unclear, one person said some employees were told her role was being eliminated. Salesforce declined comment to Insider.
She was well-liked by colleagues and known for having a direct line to Salesforce executives like CEO Marc Benioff and Chief People Officer Brent Hyder, the people told Insider. Once word spread internally that she was gone, dozens of employees thanked Chapman for her contributions to Salesforce on an online card viewed by Insider.
Salesforce’s dismissal of Chapman, a Black woman, comes as the company is aggressively cutting headcount and costs in recent months. Chief Business Officer Ebony Beckwith, the only Black executive on Salesforce’s leadership team, also left the company in May.
As Insider previously reported, Salesforce is also currently facing a discrimination lawsuit from another Black woman who worked as a senior director in the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion unit called the Office of Equality. The lawsuit claims she was denied a promotion to vice president after performing tasks others in the role performed and was held to different standards than her white colleagues. The company denies these claims.
Led by philanthropy-minded Benioff, Salesforce has long aspired to be the tech industry’s champion for social justice. But Salesforce has been under pressure to focus on profit from a group of activist investors. It announced a plan to layoff 10% of its global workforce earlier this year, shed some real estate, and hired Bain & Company to help it restructure. Many of the layoffs have been sales, recruiting, and marketing roles, as well as jobs in some of its acquired companies, including Tableau, Mulesoft, and Slack.
With a newfound focus on budgets and profits, some employees say that its culture is becoming radically changed.
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