Another Google exec to join Obama team
By Michael W. Jones
Andrew McLaughlin, the current director of global public policy at Google, will leave the search giant to become deputy chief technology officer in the tech-savvy Obama administration.
McLaughlin will report to Aneesh Chopra, recently named as the nation’s chief technology officer. As a peripheral note, McLaughlin will be the third high-level Google veteran to join the Obama administration since it took command of the executive branch, according to a New York Times story. Katie Stanton (a veteran of Google’s new business development team, named as White House director of citizen participation) and Sonal Shah (previously a member of Google’s philanthropy division, named to the transition team) were the other former Google employees tapped for the Obama team.
McLaughlin has been with Google for about five years. He directed Google’s interests in governments around the world, such as significant efforts in 2006 to manage the pressure over Google’s policies in China. Previously he was an executive at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit group that helps coordinate the Internet’s address system. He is an emeritus fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, and was part of the administration’s transition team as a member of the Technology, Innovation and Government Reform Policy Working Group.
Google reaction, issued in a statement, said, “We understand that in order to be successful in Washington we need relationships on both sides of the aisle, and we have worked over the past few years to strengthen those relationships. As for a small handful of Googlers leaving the company to join the administration, we respect their decision to work in public service and wish them all the best in their new and exciting jobs.”
Not everyone is happy with the number of Googlers going to Washington. Some observers have voiced concerns that these members of the administration, as insiders, could influence the way Google is treated by government agencies. These appointments come at a time when the search company’s actions are coming under increased scrutiny, such as the flap over board members shared with Apple and certain antitrust actions.
Related:
Entry was posted
on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
under
Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
Stumble It!
May 30th, 2009
The US government needs as many smart people as possible. I’m sure there are institutions in place to ensure these Google people don’t use their influence in an in appropriate way.
May 31st, 2009
@ Peter Cummins. LOL I think you may want to review what you wrote there. You’re saying that you DON’T want the Google people to use their influence in an appropriate way, or in other words, you want them to use their influence in an inappropriate way.
/grammarnazi
Getting back to something relevant, I agree with you in saying they need as many smart people in government as possible who don’t make policy based on personal beliefs/opinions; although there IS a difference between being knowledgable and being wise.