Vernā Myers, Netflix’s head of inclusion strategy, will be stepping down from the position in September. Myers joined the company in 2018 and was the first to serve in the role, which she held for five years. She will remain as an advisor to Netflix as she focuses her attention to her consulting company, The Vernā Myers Company.
After she departs, Wade Davis will be promoted to her position. Davis is currently the vice president of inclusion strategy and has worked with Myers for four years.
“Vernā has had an immense impact on Netflix over the last five years and I’m glad we’ll still get to work together and benefit from her deep expertise. I’m very grateful for everything that she’s done to help strengthen our collective inclusion acumen and capabilities so that we can make Netflix a place where everyone feels welcome and can thrive,” Sergio Ezama, Netflix chief talent officer, said.
“Wade is a strong and well-respected leader at Netflix — so a great person to build on our commitment, taking our inclusion work to the next level,” Ezama added.
“It’s hard to step away from the company and this role because of how much I love Netflix and the people here. I’m so excited for the talented Wade Davis who will be taking the lead of the I-and-D work [Editor’s note: “inclusion and diversity”] along with our incredible inclusion strategy team and I can’t wait to see the continued progress we all will make together,” Myers said.
As Netflix’s first head of inclusion, Myers was responsible for releasing the streamer’s initial inclusion report in 2021. She also created a curriculum on Leading Inclusively for the company that, in the last year, over 600 Netflix leaders have globally taken. Under her the inclusion team has expanded to become more globally focused. It now includes groups of professionals from all regions with the goal of developing strategies become more inclusive and culturally relevant in terms of hiring, compensation, onboarding, feedback, growth and development.
Variety was the first to report.