Moore School Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Barbara Whye, ’89 USC electrical engineering, ’95 MBA, is Apple’s vice president of Inclusion & Diversity. At Apple, she leads the company’s commitment to building a more equitable and inclusive world by increasing diverse representation at every level, fostering an inclusive culture that brings everyone in and ensuring equitable pay and access to opportunity for all.
A globally recognized leader on issues of workforce representation and inclusion in the technology industry, Whye joined Apple in 2021, after spending 27 years with Intel Corporation where she held several leadership roles, including serving as the company’s Corporate Vice President of Social Impact and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. At Apple, she partners extensively with senior leaders around the world and leads the company’s work to build inclusion and diversity into every system and process.
Whye has championed efforts to ensure all have equitable access to opportunities and career growth.
She said of her time at the Moore School of Business, “The MBA program propelled my career growth and experiences by rounding out my strong engineering skills with leadership development capabilities to globally lead complex and
cross-functional teams to successful results.”
Fortune recognized Whye as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, she was recognized as one of Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America, and in 2023 as one of the Most Influential Executives in Diversity & Inclusion. She also sits on the Board of Directors for BlackLine, Inc., and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and Ethics at Arizona State University and is expected to defend her dissertation in 2023.
Barbara credits her mother and siblings as her role models. She is inspired by her husband and best friend, Demetrius. They have one son, Carlton, and he is married to Faith, and they have one son, Caleb.