Google Executive Officially Named To Chief Tech Position

Google executive Megan Smith has officially been named the new U.S. chief technology officer, according to a statement released by the White House today.

Smith, a vice president with the powerhouse company, will succeed Todd Park, who officials noted early this month has stepped down to assume a role for President Barack Obama's administration in Silicon Valley.

Obama said Smith has spent her career leading talented teams and creating cutting-edge technology and initiatives.

"I am confident that in her new role as America's chief technology officer, she will put her long record of leadership and exceptional skills to work on behalf of the American people. I am grateful for her commitment to serve, and I look forward to working with her and with our new Deputy U.S. CTO, Alexander Macgillivray, in the weeks and months ahead," the president said in a White House blog post.

[Related: Google Executive Reportedly Tapped for Chief Federal Position]

John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology, and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said Smith will be tasked with guiding the administration's information-technology policy and initiatives. She will work to continue the work of predecessors to accelerate attainment of the benefits of advanced information and communications technologies "across every sector of the economy and aspect of human well-being."

Macgillivray will take over as deputy CTO to focus on a portfolio of key priority areas for the administration, including Internet policy, intellectual property policy, and the intersection of big data, technology and privacy. He is an actively practicing developer and coder, according to the White House, contributing to his ability to formulate creative and sensible technology policy and understand its ramifications.

Smith is an internationally recognized and award-winning entrepreneur, engineer and tech evangelist. She joins the White House from her most recent post as a vice president at Google[x], where she worked on several projects, including co-creating the "SolveForX" innovation community project and the company's "WomenTechmakers" tech-diversity initiative.

For nine years prior, Smith was the vice president of new business development at Google, where she managed early-stage partnerships, pilot explorations, and technology licensing globally across engineering and product teams. During that time, she led the company's acquisition of major platforms, such as Google Earth, Google Maps and Picasa, and served as general manager of Google.org during its engineering transition. Smith previously served as CEO of PlanetOut, a leading LGBT online community.

"I want to personally welcome Smith and Macgillivray to the Office of Science and Technology Policy team and congratulate them on their new roles," Holdren said. "I look forward to working with both of them… to continue advancing the President's technology and innovation agenda for the good of the nation."

Doug Shepard, president of the Google unit at the Atlanta-based partner Cloud Sherpas, said he is familiar with Smith's work and said her new position makes him optimistic for the future.

"By reputation, she is known inside Google as being brilliant, innovative and also inclusive in all of her thought processes and actions," Shepard said. "I look at this as an opportunity for the federal government to take a look at all of the business processes they have -- how can they invent those and enable technology to improve those processes and make them easier for the government to engage and communicate with their citizens?"

Allen Falcon, CEO of Cumulus Global, a Google partner, said he believed the news of Smith's new job would bolster Google's reputation as an innovator, though he said it will be a hit for the company.

"I think it's a loss for Google and a win for the administration," Falcon said. "I think she's got, from her work at Google and her past work in the industry, a good sense of how the government can be much more efficient and effective."

Backupify CEO Rob May, another Google partner from the Boston area, said he thinks Smith’s leadership will lead to new opportunities for the country.

"The federal government is not synonymous with technology innovation so it's exciting to see a former Google executive take the helm in the White House,’ he said.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 4, 2014