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Business News/ News / World/  Google’s Megan Smith said to be headed to Washington for US CTO role
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Google’s Megan Smith said to be headed to Washington for US CTO role

Megan Smith, who was most recently a vice president at Google's X lab, is a top candidate for the role of US chief technology officer

The CTO serves as a kind of White House chief geek-in- residence, tasked with overseeing the government’s use of technology, including finding ways to create jobs and increase the use of broadband.Premium
The CTO serves as a kind of White House chief geek-in- residence, tasked with overseeing the government’s use of technology, including finding ways to create jobs and increase the use of broadband.

San Francisco: Google Inc. executive Megan Smith is close to heading to the White House.

Smith, 49, who was most recently a vice president at Google’s X lab, is a top candidate for the role of US chief technology officer, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

Smith would become the third person to fill the CTO job, after Aneesh Chopra and Todd Park, who recently resigned and is returning home to California this month. Park will take on a new role for President Barack Obama’s administration as a technology adviser based in Silicon Valley, the White House said on Thursday.

Courtney Hohne, a spokeswoman at Mountain View, California- based Google, declined to comment. A White House official declined to comment and Smith didn’t return requests for comment.

The CTO serves as a kind of White House chief geek-in- residence, tasked with overseeing the government’s use of technology, including finding ways to create jobs and increase the use of broadband.

Park helped to lead the effort to fix the much maligned Obamacare portal, HealthCare.gov. He also helped start the Presidential Innovation Fellows programme, which teams government officials with private-sector individuals on various projects.

“I thank Todd for his service as my chief technology officer, and look forward to his continuing to help us deploy the best people and ideas from the tech community in service of the American people," Obama said in a statement.

Smith’s career

Smith joined Google in 2003. As vice president of business development, she oversaw many of its most important acquisitions, like Keyhole, the service that underlies Google Earth. She has led the company’s philanthropic division, Google.org, and served as a co-host for Google’s Solve for X forum, where distinguished thinkers and scientists brainstorm radical technology ideas with Google executives.

Before joining Google, Smith was chief executive officer of Planet Out, a site for gay and lesbian Internet users. She got undergraduate and Masters degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been active in the FIRST Robotics Competition, which inspires kids to get involved in the field of technology. Bloomberg

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Published: 29 Aug 2014, 10:52 AM IST
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