The 15 most powerful women at Google (GOOG, GOOGL)

Google

Since Google began releasing its diversity report in 2014, the percentage of women at the company has barely budged, going from from 30% back then to 30.9% in 2018.
Perhaps a more hopeful statistic has been the increase in female leadership over the years, which has risen from 20.8% in 2014 to 25.5% in 2018.
Today, women at Google are starting to lead some of the largest and strategically most important teams within the company.
Below is Business Insider's list of 15 of the most powerful women at Google.

Getting more women into tech jobs has been a focus for many Silicon Valley companies, and rightfully so. Based on diversity reports released by large tech companies, women are far outnumbered by their male counterparts.

Google, in particular, has struggled. In 2018, the search giant employed just 30.9% women, compared to 32% at Apple and 36% at Facebook. What's more, the ratio of women at Google has barely budged since the company began releasing its diversity report in 2014, when it stood at 30%.

In its most recent report, Google said there were "modest but hopeful signs of success in hiring" when it came to "reaching greater workforce representation of women globally."

Perhaps a more encouraging statistic is Google's ratio of women in leadership over the years, which has risen from 20.8% in 2014 to 25.5% in 2018. Beyond simply reaching managerial status, women at Google today lead some of the largest and strategically important teams.

Some, like YouTube's chief exec and Google's chief financial officer, are well known throughout the business world. Others, who oversee products or businesses of growing importance, are lesser known outside the Googleplex campus.

Here is Business Insider's list of the top 15 most powerful women at Google:

Ivy Ross — VP of Design, UX, and Research for Hardware

When Ivy Ross joined Google in 2014, she was tasked with leading the company's futuristic wearable project known as Google Glass.

With a background in jewelry design, as well as experience in the fashion and retail industries, Ross brought a unique perspective to the team.

"She is trained to be sensitive to getting technology out of the way, using technology, rather than thinking technology is a natural benefit in and of itself,” Astro Teller, head of Google's moonshot factory X, which housed the Glass project, said of Ross in 2015.

In 2016, Ross was assigned to head design efforts for all of Google's hardware products. Under her leadership, the company's family of "Made by Google" products has grown to include the Pixel smartphone, Pixel Slate, Google Home, Google Wifi, and more.

In 2018, Google was named Fast Company’s Design Company of the year.

Bonita Stewart — VP, Global Partnerships

Bonita Stewart joined Google in 2006 and has risen the ranks to oversee the company's global partnerships team, responsible for the largest US publishers in Search, Mobile Apps, News, and more.

Stewart has been recognized externally for her leadership as a Woman to Watch (Advertising Age, 2011), Power 100 (Ebony, 2012), and Most Powerful Women (Crain’s NYC, 2017).

She currently holds a board seat with Deckers and the online education company, Pluralsight.

Jen Fitzpatrick — SVP, Geo/Google Maps

Jen Fitzpatrick joined Google in 1999 as a member of its first intern program and eventually became one of the company’s first female engineers.

“My parents thought I was crazy taking a job at this tiny little startup that no one had ever heard of,” Fitzpatrick said in a 2018 interview.

During her 20 years at Google (which is nearly as long as the company has been incorporated), Fitzpatrick has led software development teams across multiple products including Search, AdWords, News, and Shopping.

In 2014, she became Google’s VP for Geo, which means she leads the Google Maps and Local teams. Those services are used by more than one billion people users today.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider