With two high-ranking Google executives leaving the Big G within a month's time, I thought it would be interesting to go back through Google's executive management page over the years and see how it reflects changes among the higher-ups. Below, there are a series of tables and commentary that hopefully let you understand the shifting currents at-a-glance.
Some notes. First, I think who gets listed on this page -- and the order in which they are listed -- is important. This has to be a perk for some execs -- that they'll get to show up and be profiled on that page. In addition, the order is not always alphabetical. With the exception of the big three -- CEO Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin -- I think who shows up first when it's a non-alphabetical listing can be significant. There can be some exceptions to this, and I'll note them as part of the charts. Let's dive in.
The charts below reflect the exact order people were listed on the executive management pages, for the dates shown at the top of each charge. There may have been other changes between dates, of course. Maybe eventually I'll go back and redo this to reflect all significant changes to the pages. I might have missed some key updates.
Each row in the chart shows where an executive was listed, in a white background. If you hit a gray background while reading across, then that person moved somehow. They might have gone up or down on the page, and I show this with a notation. I also note if someone was given a title change (usually a promotion). Keep in mind that sometimes titles at Google don't reflect that much. Matt Cutts, for example, remains (I think) a senior software engineer. In another company (or if he were a different type of person), he'd probably be called "vice president, search quality." Still, seeing how titles change among the top execs is still useful to note.
Be sure to read the summaries below each chart. Sometimes people will drop in positions, but that doesn't mean they necessarily have dropped in "pecking order." Indeed, speculating that there is a pecking order to some of these pages is just that, speculation.
Finally, if you see orange, that's when someone actually left Google. Why orange? Hey, red looked too bad, and I'm color-challenged. Like I need Garanimals for adults, OK?
Google Management: 2000 to 2002
| Jan. 20, 2000 | March 31, 2001 | Feb. 7, 2002 |
| Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO (NEW) | ||
| Larry Page, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer | Larry Page, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer | Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products (TITLE CHANGE) |
| Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President | Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President | Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology (TITLE CHANGE) |
| Omid Kordestani, Vice President of Business Development & Sales | Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Business Development & Sales (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| Tim Armstrong, Vice President, Advertising Sales | ||
| Joan Braddi, Vice President, Search Services | ||
| Wayne Rosing, Vice President of Engineering (NEW) | Wayne Rosing, Vice President of Engineering | |
| Urs Hölzle, Vice President of Engineering | DROPS: 3 TO 8 | Urs Hölzle, Google Fellow |
| Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology | ||
| Cindy McCaffrey, Vice President, Corporate Marketing (TITLE CHANGE) | ||
| Omid Kordestani, Vice President of Business Development & Sales | RISES: 4 TO 3 | |
| Cindy McCaffrey, Vice President, Corporate Communications | Cindy McCaffrey, Vice President, Corporate Communications | DROPS: 5 TO 10 |
| Tim Armstrong, Vice President, National Sales | DROPS: 6 TO 7 | |
| Joan Braddi, Vice President, Search Services (TITLE CHANGE) | SEE ABOVE, STAYS AT 6 | |
| Joan Braddi, Vice President, Licensing Sales | RISES: 7 TO 6 | |
| Tim Armstrong, Vice President, Advertising Sales (TITLE CHANGE) | RISES: 7 TO 5 | |
| Urs Hölzle, Google Fellow (TITLE CHANGE) | SEE ABOVE, STAYS AT 8 | |
| Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology | Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology | SEE ABOVE, STAYS AT 9 |
| 8 Execs | 9 Execs | 10 Execs |
In 2000, only eight executives get spotlighted on the page. After Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the remaining six aren't in alphabetical order. My assumption is that Urs Hölzle got third billing because he was over at engineering. At Google, engineering rules, as will be seen later on.
Omid Kordestani came next. I'd say that was a nod to the man who became Google's early breadwinner. Cindy McCaffrey, the woman who guided Google toward its public relations greatness, came fifth. After that, my assumption is that both Tim Armstrong and Joan Braddi were deemed important enough to deserve management page credit with an alphabetical listing between them used as a tie-breaker.
Of course, all four VPs I've mentioned oversaw different areas. Could it be that they were listed alphabetically by those areas (Business Development, Corporate Communications, National Sales, & Licensing Sales)? Not with National Sales coming before Licensing Sales. Perhaps seniority was involved.
Craig Silverstein in "last" place? I'd call that more "pride of place," similar to when you've got an important actor who gets the last credit. He's also the only director level position on the list. And I could be overthinking all of this.
In 2001, Wayne Rosing came on to head engineering, apparently replacing Urs Hölzle, who shifted over into being named "Google Fellow." But Omid Kordestani bumped the VP of engineering slot out of third billing, likely a reflection of how important he was to actually building Google a business income.
Joan Braddi and Tim Armstrong did a flipflop in terms of how they were listed. I wouldn't be surprised if this was something thought to be fair, flipping two execs seen as co-equal in the billing, to make things fair.
Am I reading too much into the order? Perhaps -- but alphabetically by name isn't used, nor is alphabetically by the area each VP governed used. And if it were seniority, then McCaffrey would have been over Rosing.
In 2002, the big change was Eric Schmidt coming on as CEO. That moved everyone down a notch. Larry Page became "President, Products" and Sergey Brin, "President, Technology." Kordestani got promoted to Senior Vice President and kept his spot after the big three.
The three VPs other than Cindy McCaffrey might have been shifted to be listed in alphabetical order by last name -- so movement here might signify nothing. Then the non-VPs, Hölzle and Silverstein, are listed.
So why's VP McCaffrey at the end? Look, Cindy was important. Very much so. That drop had nothing to do with any decreased importance, in my view. To me, it would have been much more an honor of last billing sometimes being more noticed.
Google Management: 2003 to 2004
| Feb. 7, 2002 | Feb. 7, 2003 | April 2, 2004 |
| Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO | Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO | Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO |
| Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology | Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology | |
| Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products | Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products | |
| | George Reyes, Chief Financial Officer (NEW) | George Reyes, Chief Financial Officer |
| | Wayne Rosing, Vice President of Engineering | Wayne Rosing, Vice President of Engineering |
| Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products | DROPS: 2 TO 3 | |
| Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology | RISES: 3 TO 2 | |
| Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Business Development & Sales (TITLE CHANGE) | Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Field Operations (TITLE CHANGE; DROPS: 4 TO 6) | Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Field Operations |
| | Cindy McCaffrey, Vice President, Corporate Marketing | |
| | David C. Drummond, Vice President, Corporate Development (NEW) | DROPS: 7 TO 9 |
| | Jonathan Rosenberg, Vice President, Product Management (NEW) | Jonathan Rosenberg, Vice President, Product Management |
| | David C. Drummond, Vice President, Corporate Development | |
| | Shona Brown, Vice President, Business Operations (NEW) | |
| Tim Armstrong, Vice President, Advertising Sales | Tim Armstrong, Vice President, Advertising Sales (DROPS: 5 TO 9) | DROPPED FROM PAGE |
| Joan Braddi, Vice President, Search Services | Joan Braddi, Vice President, Licensing Sales (TITLE CHANGE; DROPS 6 TO 10) | DROPPED FROM PAGE |
| Wayne Rosing, Vice President of Engineering | RISES: 7 TO 5 | |
| Urs Hölzle, Google Fellow | Urs Hölzle, Google Fellow | DROPPED FROM PAGE |
| Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology | Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology | DROPPED FROM PAGE |
| Cindy McCaffrey, Vice President, Corporate Marketing | Cindy McCaffrey, Vice President, Corporate Marketing | RISES: 13 TO 7 |
| 10 Execs | 13 Execs | 10 Execs |
For consistency with the earlier chart, I've continued on from 2002, which was already covered above.
In 2003, three new key executives were added. George Reyes was named Chief Financial Officer and took over the number four spot previously held by Omid Kordestani, who slipped down slightly past engineering VP Wayne Rosing. David Drummond, Vice President, Corporate Development, was added and jumped above existing execs like Tim Armstrong and Joan Braddi. The same was true for new exec Jonathan Rosenberg, Vice President, Product Management. Larry Page, long either in the top spot or second spot, swapped places with Sergey Brin. I doubt it meant anything more than the two deciding they should rotate from time-to-time.
In 2004, there was spring cleaning. Long-standing execs Armstrong, Braddi, Hölzle, & Silverstein were dropped from the page. They were still at Google, but they no longer got listed as top management. Shona Brown, Vice President, Business Operations, came in as the only new exec to make the page. She took over Cindy McCaffrey's spot at the end of the list. In doing so, that last spot no longer felt like a place to spotlight an exec but rather that the list was showing a pecking order of who was rated most important.
Google Management: 2005 to 2006
| April 2, 2004 | March 3, 2005 | Jan. 1, 2006 |
| Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO | Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO | Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO |
| Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products | ||
| Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology | ||
| Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology | Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology | DROPS: 2 TO 3 |
| Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products | Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products | RISES: 3 TO 2 |
| George Reyes, Chief Financial Officer | George Reyes, Chief Financial Officer | George Reyes, Chief Financial Officer |
| | Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Business Development (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| | Alan Eustace, Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | |
| | Jeff Huber, Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | |
| | W. M. Coughran, Jr., Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | |
| Wayne Rosing, Vice President of Engineering | Wayne Rosing, Senior Vice President of Engineering (TITLE CHANGE) | LEFT GOOGLE IN MAY 2005 |
| Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Field Operations | Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Field Operations | RISES: 6 TO 5 |
| Cindy McCaffrey, Vice President, Corporate Marketing | LEFT GOOGLE IN DEC. 2004 | |
| Jonathan Rosenberg, Vice President, Product Management | Jonathan Rosenberg, Vice President, Product Management | Jonathan Rosenberg, Vice President, Product Management |
| David C. Drummond, Vice President, Corporate Development | David C. Drummond, Vice President, Corporate Development | David C. Drummond, Vice President, Corporate Development |
| Shona Brown, Vice President, Business Operations | Shona Brown, Vice President, Business Operations | Shona Brown, Vice President, Business Operations |
| | Elliot Schrage, Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs (NEW) | |
| | Tim Armstrong, Vice President, Advertising Sales (RETURNS TO PAGE) | |
| | Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience (NEW) | |
| | Salar Kamangar, Vice President, Product Management (NEW) | |
| | Sheryl Sandberg, Vice President, Global Online Sales and Operations (NEW) | |
| | Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Vice President, Asia-Pacific and Latin America Operations (NEW) | |
| | Nikesh Arora, Vice President, European Operations (NEW) | |
| | Norio Murakami, Vice President and General Manager, Google Japan (NEW) | |
| | Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist (NEW) | |
| | Miriam Rivera, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel (NEW) | |
| 10 Execs | 9 Execs | 21 Execs |
Again, for consistency when moving between charts, I've repeated the previous year. Moving along...
In 2005, there was only one major change -- Cindy McCaffrey was off the chart. She'd left Google by then (in December 2004), the first high-ranking exec to take her well-deserved winnings and move on.
In 2006, there was another absence. Wayne Rosing became the second high-ranking exec to depart, having left in May 2005 (and see here) to focus on his passion for astronomy. But the real change was the addition of many new execs to the page. Elliot Schrage took over from Cindy McCaffrey, so his addition was no surprise. Same too for the three separate VPs of engineering that came in to fill Wayne Rosing's spot.
But many pre-IPO Google employees gained new recognition, such as Sheryl Sandberg, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, and Marissa Mayer. Meanwhile, Omid Kordestani moved back higher in the seeming pecking order and Tim Armstrong finally returned to the page. Joan Braddi, who he'd long been twinned with on the page, did not, despite still being at Google then (and today).
Google Management: 2006 to 2008
| Jan. 1, 2006 | Feb. 2, 2007 | April 2, 2008 |
| Executive Management Group (EMG) | ||
| Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO | Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO | Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO |
| Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products | Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products | Larry Page, Co-founder & President, Products |
| Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology | Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology | Sergey Brin, Co-founder & President, Technology |
| Laszlo Bock Vice President, People Operations | ||
| George Reyes, Chief Financial Officer | (MOVES TO EMG; SEE BELOW) | |
| Shona Brown, Senior Vice President, Business Operations (TITLE CHANGE) | Shona Brown, Senior Vice President, Business Operations | |
| W. M. Coughran, Jr., Vice President, Engineering | W. M. Coughran, Jr., Vice President, Engineering | |
| David C. Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development (TITLE CHANGE) | David C. Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President, Engineering & Research (TITLE CHANGE) | Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President, Engineering & Reseach | |
| Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Google Fellow (TITLE CHANGE; RETURNS TO PAGE) | Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Google Fellow | |
| Jeff Huber, Vice President, Engineering | Jeff Huber, Senior Vice President, Engineering (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Business Development (TITLE CHANGE) | Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Business Development (MOVES TO EMG) | Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Business Development |
| George Reyes, Chief Financial Officer | George Reyes, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer (TITLE CHANGE; ANNOUNCED RESIGNATION IN AUGUST 2007; STAYS UNTIL REPLACED) | |
| Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior Vice President, Product Management (TITLE CHANGE) | Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior Vice President, Product Management | |
| Elliot Schrage, Vice President, Global Communications & Public Affairs | Elliot Schrage, Vice President, Global Communications & Public Affairs | |
| Alan Eustace, Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | MOVES TO EMG; GETS SENIOR VP TITLE | |
| Jeff Huber, Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | MOVES TO EMG | |
| W. M. Coughran, Jr., Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | MOVES TO EMG | |
| Jonathan Rosenberg, Vice President, Product Management | MOVES TO EMG; GETS SENIOR VP TITLE | |
| David C. Drummond, Vice President, Corporate Development | MOVES TO EMG; GETS SENIOR VP TITLE | |
| Shona Brown, Vice President, Business Operations | MOVES TO EMG; GETS SENIOR VP TITLE | |
| Elliot Schrage, Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs (NEW) | MOVES TO EMG | |
| Google Management Group (GMG) | ||
| Tim Armstrong, Vice President, Advertising Sales (RETURNS TO PAGE) | Tim Armstrong, Vice President, Advertising Sales (MOVES TO GMG) | MOVES TO SALES EXECS, SEE BELOW |
| Nikesh Arora, Vice President, European Operations | MOVES TO SALES EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Laszlo Bock Vice President, People Operations (NEW) | MOVES TO GMC, SEE ABOVE | |
| Adam Bosworth Vice President (NEW) | LEFT GOOGLE SEPTEMBER 2007 | |
| Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Vice President, Asia-Pacific and Latin America Operations | MOVES TO SALES EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist | MOVES TO ENGINEERING EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| David Eun Vice President, Content Partnerships (NEW) | MOVES TO SALES EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Dave Girouard Vice President & General Manager, Enterprise (NEW) | MOVES TO SALES EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Salar Kamangar, Vice President, Product Management | MOVES TO PRODUCTS EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| David Lawee Vice President, Marketing (NEW) | MOVES TO LEGAL EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Kai-Fu Lee Vice President, Engineering, Product, and Public Affairs & President, Greater China (NEW) | MOVES TO SALES EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Udi Manber Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | MOVES TO ENGINEERING EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience (NEW) | Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience (MOVES TO GMG) | MOVES TO PRODUCTS EXECS, SEE BELOW |
| Douglas Merrill Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | MOVES TO ENGINEERING EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Norio Murakami, Vice President and General Manager, Google Japan (MOVES TO GMG) | MOVES TO SALES EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| David Radcliffe Vice President, Real Estate (NEW) | MOVES TO FINANCE EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Salar Kamangar, Vice President, Product Management (NEW) | MOVES TO GMG; SEE ABOVE | |
| Sheryl Sandberg, Vice President, Global Online Sales and Operations (NEW) | Sheryl Sandberg, Vice President, Global Online Sales and Operations (MOVES TO GMG) | LEFT GOOGLE MARCH 2008 |
| Kent Walker Vice President & General Counsel (NEW) | MOVES TO LEGAL EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Vice President, Asia-Pacific and Latin America Operations (NEW) | MOVES TO GMG; SEE ABOVE | |
| Nikesh Arora, Vice President, European Operations (NEW) | MOVES TO GMG; SEE ABOVE | |
| Norio Murakami, Vice President and General Manager, Google Japan (NEW) | MOVES TO GMG; SEE ABOVE | |
| Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist (NEW) | MOVES TO GMG; SEE ABOVE | |
| Susan Wojcicki Vice President, Product Management (NEW) | MOVES TO PRODUCTS EXECS, SEE BELOW | |
| Miriam Rivera, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel (NEW) | DROPPED FROM PAGE; LIKELY LEFT IN 2006 | |
| | Engineering Execs | |
| | Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist | |
| | Stuart Feldman, Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | |
| | Vic Gundotra, Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | |
| | Udi Manber Vice President, Engineering | |
| | Nelson Mattos, Vice President, Engineering, EMEA (NEW) | |
| | Douglas Merrill Vice President, Engineering LEFT GOOGLE APRIL 2008 | |
| | Shiva Shivakumar, Vice President and Distinguished Entrepreneur (NEW) | |
| | Alfred Spector, VP of Research and Special Initiatives (NEW) | |
| | Benjamin Sloss Treynor, Vice President, Engineering (NEW) | |
| | Jeff Dean, Google Fellow (NEW) | |
| | Sanjay Ghemawat, Google Fellow (NEW) | |
| | Amit Singhal, Google Fellow (NEW) | |
| | Products Execs | |
| | Salar Kamangar, Vice President, Product Management | |
| | Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience | |
| | Mario Queiroz, Vice President, Product Management, EMEA & Latin America (NEW) | |
| | Lorraine Twohill, Vice President, Marketing, EMEA (NEW) | |
| | Susan Wojcicki Vice President, Product Management | |
| | Sales Execs | |
| | Daniel Alegre, Vice President, Latin America and APLA Business Development (NEW) | |
| | Tim Armstrong, President, Advertising and Commerce, North America, & Vice President, Google Inc. (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| | Nikesh Arora, President, EMEA Operations & Vice President, Google Inc. (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| | Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, President, Asia Pacific and Latin America Operations (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| | David Eun Vice President, Content Partnerships | |
| | David Fischer, Vice President, Online Sales & Operations (NEW, REPLACES SHERYL SANDBERG) | |
| | Dave Girouard Vice President & General Manager, Enterprise | |
| | John Herlihy, Vice President, Onlinel Sales & Operations, EMEA | |
| | Kai-Fu Lee, Vice President, Google Inc.; President, Greater China (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| | Dr. John Liu, Vice President, Sales, Greater China (NEW) | |
| | Norio Murakami, President & General Manager, Google Japan & Vice President, Google Inc. (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| | Penry Price, VP, Advertising Sales, North America (NEW) | |
| | Dennis Woodside, Vice President, UK, Benelux and Ireland (NEW) | |
| | Legal Execs | |
| | Kent Walker Vice President & General Counsel | |
| | David Lawee Vice President, Corporate Development (TITLE CHANGE) | |
| | Megan Smith, Vice President, New Business Development (NEW) | |
| | Finance Execs | |
| | Brent Callinicos, Vice President & Treasurer (NEW) | |
| | Francois Delepine, Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis (NEW) | |
| | Mark Fuchs, Vice President of Finance and Chief Accountant (NEW) | |
| | Julio Pekarovic, Vice President, Global Sales Finance (NEW) | |
| | David Radcliffe, Vice President, Real Estate | |
| | Business Operations Execs | |
| | Francoise Brougher, Vice President, Business Operations (NEW) | |
| 21 Execs | 31 Execs | 54 Execs |
As with the other charts, I've repeated the last year of the previous one, 2006, so that comparisons can continue.
In 2007, we see a major change. Google execs were divided into two groups. First there's the Executive Management Group, of EMG. These are the most senior executives. There's no pecking order in how they are listed after the top trio of Schmidt-Page-Brin. Everyone else is listed alphabetically by last name, regardless of job title. All elevated to the EMG had been previously listed on the management page before. Several gained promotion to senior vice president level (Brown, Drummond, Eustace, Hölzle, & Rosenberg). Hölzle is notable for being the only one to return to the executive page after an absence. He was on the original executive page way back in 2000 as a VP; he changed to being a Google Fellow in 2001 and was dropped in 2004. His return reflected gaining SVP in addition to his Google Fellow title.
Other executives are listed under the "Google Management Group" heading. These include all the new additions from 2005 (such as Mayer, Kamangar, Sandberg, among others). In addition, many new execs get added, such as Susan Wojcicki and Douglas Merrill, among others. Only one person goes, Miriam Rivera, formerly listed as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. I don't recall any news coming out about her leaving Google. But she definitely left at some point, currently serving on the Stanford University Board Of Trustees.
In 2008, another big shake-up. The executive page listed over 50 people, more than ever before.
The EMG section remained largely the same. The only addition was Laszlo Bock, Vice President, People Operations, jumping into it. David Drummond got a title change, picking up Chief Legal Officer to add to his SVP title. Jeff Huber gained an SVP title, as did CFO George Reyes. Reyes, of course, also announced he was resigning in August 2007. More than half-a-year later, he continues to serve and seek a replacement. Forbes looked at that challenge back in December.
The Google Management Group section added in 2007 did not survive. Instead, all the execs there other than three departures I'll come to were added to one of several groups: Engineering, Product, Sales, Legal, Finance, & Business Operations. Within each group, people were listed alphabetically by name, regardless of title.
I said earlier that engineers sat on top of the Google pecking order. Anyone familiar with Google culture will tell you this, and the order of the groups reflects it. Engineering comes first. That just alphabetical? Sure, Product and Sales would come next, but then Legal & Business Operations ruins that pattern.
Within the group are names long on the page, such as Vint Cerf. But many new names were added, such as engineering VP Stuart Feldman and Shiva Shivakumar, who is also Google's only Distinguished Entrepreneur. Still listed today but soon to go missing is Douglas Merrill, confirmed to be leaving and expected to head to EMI. Missing from the group is Adam Bosworth, who left in September 2007.
In the Product group are (again) familiar names (Kamangar, Mayer, Wojcicki) along with two new ones (Mario Queiroz, Vice President, Product Management, EMEA & Latin America, and Lorraine Twohill, Vice President, Marketing, EMEA).
Sales is the biggest group (13 people) outside the EMG itself (14 people), just edging out Engineering (12) and Products (5). Lots of new additions to the page show up. Notable is David Fischer, Vice President, Online Sales & Operations, filling the spot vacated by Sheryl Sandberg in March 2008, though Fischer doesn't get the "Global" moniker that Sandberg's title carried. Also notable are some additions for areas outside the US, such as Daniel Alegre, Vice President, Latin America and APLA Business Development.
We also see the first "President" titles showing up beyond those that the two founders carry. Indeed, while I previously said that at Google, engineers rule -- on a title basis, it's the sales side that would seem to outrank. Tim Armstrong, Nikesh Arora, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, and Norio Murakami all carry a president's title, joining Kai-Fu Lee, who already had one. That's six sales-side presidents to only one on the engineering side (Sergey Brin) and one on the product side (Larry Page). Of course, most of these sales presidents oversee areas outside the US (China, Japan, Europe & Middle East; Asia & Latin America), and there might be regulatory or other reasons why it's helpful to have someone at least carry a president's title.
In the Legal group, one new exec is added (Megan Smith, Vice President, New Business Development) and David Lawee stays on the executive page but seems to make a lateral move, becoming VP of corporate development. Previously, he was VP of marketing. Oddly, this means that Google seems to be without a VP of marketing, at the moment.
In the Finance group, four new execs get named in addition to David Radcliffe, Vice President, Real Estate, who was previously on the page. And Francoise Brougher, Vice President, Business Operations, becomes the sole person listed in the Business Operations Group.
Departures, In Summary
So with all the talk of a brain drain, how's it looking in terms of executives on the Google management page that have gone? Year-by-year:
- 2000: 0 departures
- 2001: 0 departures
- 2002: 0 departures
- 2003: 0 departures
- 2004: 1 departure (Cindy McCaffrey; this was also Google's IPO year)
- 2005: 1 departure (Wayne Rosing)
- 2006: 1 departure (Mariam Rivera -- may have left in 2007)
- 2007: 1 departure (Adam Bosworth; George Reyes announced departure; Louis Monier also left and may have been listed on the page at a time point I didn't check)
- 2008: 2 departures (Sandberg & Merrill)
- Total To Date: 6 departures
That's it -- only six named execs to depart (though there might be a few more, if they were named on pages between the time points I picked). Frankly, that seems a great retention record to me, four years after the company went public, when plenty of the execs are pre-IPO and wealthy. But as I said in my post today about Merrill's departure, I'm sure Google will continue to see execs go because they want to show they can succeed on their own, out from under Google's shadow.
Eventually, Google might also suffer Yahoo's problem, that post-IPO execs leave not just for the challenge but because they potentially can make IPO money by working for actual start-ups, rather than a former start-up that simply can't deliver the same perks (payoff, lack of bureaucracy).
By the way, be sure to check out this cool Google organization map that's being maintained at the Cogmap wiki.
Via [http://searchengineland.com/080402-170216.php]
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