Originally posted in the Silicon Valley Business Journal

As general counsel of Looker Data Sciences, Tricia Timm led the Santa Cruz startup’s recent $2.6 billion acquisition by Google Inc. — but what some don’t know is that Timm considered leaving the legal profession just a few years ago.

“I was at a place in my career where I wanted to do something more, maybe more impactful, and I actually looked around at potentially changing careers, at maybe doing something in (diversity and inclusion),” Timm told the Business Journal.

But as she pondered making a move, one prominent vice president of D&I advised Timm against changing careers — “because you’ll have a seat at the table and you’ll have more of an impact and be able to help the company in its efforts in D&I,” Timm recalled.

With that advice, Timm joined Looker as general counsel in 2017 — and approached CEO Frank Bien with an idea to serve as the executive sponsor of an employee-led Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program.

Timm has since hired a global head of DEI, launched a number of employee resource groups including one focused on Latinx employees, set up recruiting outreach to underrepresented groups and trained most of Looker’s managers, including all of its C-suite executives, on unconscious bias.

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