14 DAY TRIAL // One important Google employee is reportedly on her way to taking on a much more demanding job, namely becoming the Chief Technology Officer of the United States, a highly important job at the White House.
Megan Smith has been with Google since 2003, where she now holds the position of vice president at the Google X labs, the place that gave us Google Glass, the driverless cars, Project Loon and the recently unveiled Project Wing.
Bloomberg writes that she is the top candidate for the role of U.S. chief technology officer, according to statements coming from unnamed sources close to the process.
She would be the third person to fill in the shoes of White House CTO, after Aneesh Chopra and Todd Park, who has recently resigned. According to an announcement from the Obama administration, Park will become a technology adviser for the White House.
Since the entire selection process is all secretive, no one from the White House confirmed the news, nor did Google’s spokespersons, but that was to be expected.
In the new position, Smith would have to oversee the government’s use of technology, to seek for ways to create new jobs and to increase the use of broadband, things that Google has already been working on in one way or another.
The choice hasn’t been made yet, however, or we’d have all heard it straight from the White House. Reports indicate that aside from Smith, Alex Macgillvray is also being considered for the job. He’s a former exec at Twitter and Google. A third name also seems to be on the shortlist, but there’s no word on who the person might be.
Aside from working for Google in a top position, Megan Smith worked for a variety of startups, including Apple in Tokyo and General Magic in Mountain View. She was part of the launch of Planet Out in 1995. After joining Google, she rose to the vice president of business development. She handled quite a few acquisitions, including Keyhole, which was rolled into Google Earth, Picasa, and Where2Tech which helped with Google Maps.
Smith is one of the board members at MIT, as well as a member of the advisory boards for the MIT Media Lab, DRAPER, Technology Review and Vital Voices. She has also worked with the USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and helped found The Malala Fund.