Jessica Powell, Google’s nicely-regarded head of comms, is departing the firm for what seems like a very fantastic detail. No, not private time with the family — rather, she is heading to grad school.
She is evidently previously enrolled and has been heading to courses for the very last two months, according to a memo she sent to team these days. Powell normally takes off for fantastic on Sept. 1.
The nicely-regarded exec has been a near adviser to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. She was instrumental in speaking the research giant’s changeover into the Alphabet framework and also all around its thrust from what Pichai phone calls “AI-first” computing.
“It’s a exceptional particular person who feels the itch for a problem outside of the previously tough role of major comms at Google,” reported Pichai in a assertion to Recode about Powell. “But Jessica is that exceptional particular person. I am particularly grateful for all that she has finished for Google, most particularly for major a strong comms crew that represents us so nicely and thoughtfully to our workforce and the entire world.”
Powell — who has been at Google for more than a decade and speaks tons of languages, which include Portuguese, and reads hieroglyphics — delayed her departure just after all the news that broke out in the wake of a controversial memo from ousted engineer James Damore. She took above the top comms task in 2015 just after Rachel Whetstone left for a task at Uber.
Mike Nelson will turn out to be interim guide of the device, which has above 200 workforce, right until a lasting alternative is selected for Powell.