Just yesterday, Google caught many of us by surprise. Announcing that they are basically splitting up Google as we know it and putting it all under an umbrella known as Alphabet, Inc. Which is going to be run by Google’s co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Basically, in a nut shell, Google has redefined the term “Senior VP” and made them all CEOs. Sundar Pichai was named CEO of Google yesterday, being in charge of basically all of Google’s products that actually make money. That includes Ads, Search, Google Maps, Android and a few others.
In the process of appointing Sundar Pichai as CEO of Google, they are also naming a new head of sales. Actually there are three new heads of sales. The current head of sales, Omid Kordestani was head of sales from 1999 to 2009, then returned to the position last summer. He will be stepping down and will be advising Alphabet. In turn, Google is naming three veteran sales exec’s to take his spot. It’s Philipp Schindler, who is a VP of Sales and Operation. Then there’s Daniel Alegre who is director of partnerships and a former Asia-Pacific Lead. Finally, we have Lorraine Twohill who is the director of marketing. Seems like there were big shoes to fill for Omid leaving his position.
Schindler joined Google in 2005, after leaving AOL’s Sales team. While Alegre has been with Google since 2007, and Twohill since 2003, and has been the search giant’s de facto chief marketing officer since 2009. All three of them have been with the company for quite some time, with Alegre being their the shortest, still at nearly 8 years. However, former Google sales execs have said that these three have not been all that aggressive in the business. Which is a bit strange when you think about it, seeing as they are in sales.
Currently, it’s not known how Schindler, Alegre and Twohill will be splitting up the duties for the head of sales position. For a $60 billion company, there is definitely plenty to be done. Hopefully we’ll have more on how this shake up affects Google and Alphabet in the near future.