Google appoints ‘most powerful woman on Wall Street’ as CFO

24 Mar 2015

Pictured: Google's new CFO, Ruth Porat

Search giant Google has appointed Ruth Porat, former CFO of Morgan Stanley and widely regarded as the most powerful woman on Wall Street, as its new CFO.

UK-born Porat began her career at Morgan Stanley in the 1980s and worked alongside “Queen of the Net” and venture capitalist Mary Meeker during the dot.com boom. Meeker is godmother to Porat’s three children.

Stanford graduate Porat led the Morgan Stanley team advising the US Department of Treasury in terms of handling the financial crisis led by sub prime mortgages and is a strong advocate of improving trust levels in the financial sector.

In 2013 she was nominated by US President Barack Obama to be the next Deputy Secretary of the Treasury but withdrew herself from the process.

In 2014 Institutional Investor magazine named her “Best Financial Institutions CFO” and the Politico Women Rule series named her the “most powerful woman on Wall Street.” She has been described by the New York Times as a “tireless worker” with a knack “for escaping unscathed from tough situations.”

Porat takes over the financial reins at Google from outgoing CFO Patrick Pichette who revealed his plans to retire from the search giant earlier this month.

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John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com