John Doerr—John Doerr named as defendant in Ellen Pao's gender discrimination suit against Kleiner Perkins
Ellen Pao, a former junior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, filed a $16 million gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit in May 2012 naming the firm and several senior partners individually, including John Doerr. The suit alleged Doerr and other senior partners ignored her complaints about sexual harassment by a colleague and that Doerr told her a board seat she deserved was given to a male partner because he 'needed a win.' At the March 2015 trial, Doerr testified he was a strong advocate for Pao, but opposing counsel showed he had publicly denied the allegations on Kleiner's blog before reading the independent investigator's report, and evidence suggested he had shifted from backing Pao to endorsing her termination. The firm and named partners won the case, but multiple outlets described Doerr's personal reputation as damaged by the trial.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender Equity | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.443 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (1 signal)
Doerr's trial testimony contradicted his earlier public denial of Pao's harassment allegations
During the March 2015 trial, Pao's attorney showed that Doerr had posted a denial of her allegations on Kleiner Perkins's blog without having read the independent investigator's report, and elicited testimony suggesting Doerr had agreed with partners who wanted Pao terminated -- despite having earlier been described as her mentor and biggest backer at the firm.