Google Launches New & Improved Marissa Mayer
For some odd reason today seems to be Marissa Mayer day around the web. Marissa can be seen on most television news coverage of Google, like the 60 Minutes infomercial last year and has also been spotted at Search Engine Strategies events.
Given the recent mainstream press buzz around Ms. Mayer you’d think her last name was Hilton. But did you know that Marissa is not just Google’s talking head in the public relations world? Here’s a rundown of her experience and credentials.
* Received BS in Symbolic Systems & Masters of Science in Computer Science from Stanford University (both degrees specialized in Artifical Intelligence).
* Centennial Teaching Award and the Forsythe Award recipient.
* Leads the product management efforts on Google’s search products.
* Joined Google in 1999 as Google’s first female engineer and led the user interface and webserver teams at that time.
* Several patents have been filed on her work in artificial intelligence and interface design.
* In her spare time, Marissa also organizes Google Movies – outings a few times a year to see the latest blockbusters – for 6,000+ people (employees plus family members and friends).
According to an article in Fast Company Marissa is the champion of simplicity at Google and was a driving force behind defending the search interface from clutter. This more or less explains her knack for talking with the press and communicating Google’s message to the 250 million Americans without a BS in Symbolic Systems; her understanding of simplicity.
All publicity has its ‘dark side’ of course and Gawker media’s Valley Rumor & Scandal blog ValleyWag has targeted Marissa with a post on her history with Larry Page and her aggressive tactics of snatching the PR label from other Googlers who were looking for the promotion. I give ValleyWag one nod, it sure is some entertaining crap and a brilliant mix of tech celebrity gossip and 2.0 buzz.
Jason Miller at Web Pro News quotes that “Mayer has been the easy-on-the-eyes next best thing (or better) alternative to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.” True, very true. People get real sick really quick of billionaire 30 year olds walking around in jeans and dress shirts claiming that they are going to save the world via the spread of information.
And yes, Marissa is easy on the eyes, a whole lot easier than Barry Diller or Steve Ballmer, as Ms. Mayer is a breath of fresh air in the tech figure head community. Let’s just hope that the ValleyWag piece doesn’t give way to rumor filled posts on Gaude, Kristen, Tara and the ladies from Yahoo, Jeremy Zawodny’s Miracle Diet (there is a great post on Shawn Fanning ballooning post Napster) and back and forth catfighting between Scott, Grehan, Hagans, Naylor and Boser!
