Ellen Pao trial takes a raunchy turn
SAN FRANCISCO — Testimony in the Ellen Pao gender discrimination case took a raunchy turn Thursday, dragging others into the fray and making clear that the culture of all of Silicon Valley, not just the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, is on trial.
Thursday's testimony featured discussion of alleged locker room talk on a private plane trip, unwanted sexual advances, retaliation and whether Pao, the woman who reported it, had "a female chip on her shoulder."
She is suing venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for $16 million, citing gender discrimination and retaliation. She left as a junior partner in 2012 and is now interim CEO at Reddit, a popular news aggregation site.
Investigator Stephen Hirschfeld took the stand Thursday, day eight of the trial. He was hired by Kleiner to first investigate a charge by Kleiner partner Trae Vassallo that she had been inappropriately pursued by another partner, Ajit Nazre.
Nazre is the same partner who had a brief affair with Pao in 2006. She says she broke it off when she learned he hadn't left his wife as he had told her he had. Others have testified it ended when he wouldn't leave his family for her.
After the Vassallo investigation was completed, Hirschfeld undertook a second one for the firm into whether Pao's allegation that Kleiner exhibits gender bias was true.
Probably the most inflammatory words of the day came during testimony about a 2011 business trip to New York on a private plane. On board were several Kleiner partners, including Pao as well as Dan Rosensweig, CEO of the textbook and learning site Chegg that the firm invested in.
When Hirschfeld interviewed Pao for his report, she told him that the men's discussion ranged from "hot" porn stars to dating younger women to good clubs to attend, he testified Thursday. He was called to the stand by Pao's lawyers.
Pao also told Hirschfeld that at one point during the flight, Rosensweig said he was thinking of trying to bring Marissa Mayer onto the Chegg board because she was "really hot." At the time Mayer was an executive at Google. She is now the CEO of Yahoo.
Reached by phone Thursday, Chegg told USA TODAY it had no comment on the allegation.
In testimony last week, Kleiner partner Ted Schlein noted that Pao did not complain about anything that was discussed on the plane ride at the time or the next day, only bringing it up much later.
Female chip on the shoulder
Pao's lawyer, Therese Lawless, worked to portray Kleiner staff as either paternalistic or out of touch with how to deal with women on staff.
At one point, Kleiner senior partner John Doerr told Hirschfeld that he felt Pao had "a female chip on her shoulder," Hirschfeld testified.
In another interaction detailed in Hirschfeld's report, Doerr said he found it ironic that Pao had written an article when she was editor of the Daily Princetonian at Princeton University about a faculty member having an affair with several coeds.
"Did he, in fact, use the word coeds?" Lawless asked of the slightly old-fashioned term for female college students.
"I think he did," Hirschfeld answered.
Another incident Pao described to Hirschfeld took place when Kleiner partner Ray Lane was at a meeting and asked first Vassallo and then Pao to be his notetaker.
Doerr had characterized that as "stupid," Hirschfeld said.
He said Lane didn't understand "the optics of just picking two women out of the room."
Other examples of possible gender bias that Pao alleged to Hirschfeld included:
• Pao told Hirschfeld that Kleiner partner Randy Komisar at one point said to her the firm was a boys' club and that you had to be one of the boys to be successful there.
• Kleiner partner Juliet de Baubigny told Pao that women don't have the personality traits to succeed at the firm.
• When Kleiner senior partner Doerr told another partner, Ted Schlein, that the firm needed more women, Schlein said, "Why don't we put (male partner) Chi-Hua Chien in a skirt?"