Hillary Clinton hires Google executive to be chief technology officer

Hillary Rodham Clinton has hired a longtime Google executive to oversee her likely presidential campaign’s technology development and build new ways for Clinton to engage with voters, according to Democrats with knowledge of the move.

Stephanie Hannon (shown in photo above), who is Google’s director of product management for civic innovation and social impact, will become the chief technology officer of the expected Clinton campaign, according to the Democrats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the appointment.

At Clinton’s New York campaign headquarters, Hannon will serve on the senior staff and oversee a team of engineers and developers, which could include outside consultants, to devise Web sites, apps and other tools for the former secretary of state and her staff to engage with supporters and voters.

Their first challenge is to have the technological infrastructure in place for Clinton’s pending campaign launch, expected in coming days, to immediately connect with her supporters, capture information about them and raise money from them.

The Clinton team does not plan to debut what one Democrat called “a glitzy, shiny suite of apps” on the campaign’s first day but will build innovative tools over time under Hannon’s leadership.

Hannon, who has worked in Silicon Valley for two decades, would be the first woman to hold the title of chief technology officer on a major presidential campaign. She will work closely with Katie Dowd, a longtime Clinton aide who will serve as the campaign’s digital director, and Teddy Goff, an outside consultant who help lead digital strategy and was the 2012 Obama campaign’s digital director.

At Google, Hannon recently has focused on building technological tools to help communities respond to natural disasters and sharing information about elections, including ballot locations and candidates. She previously helped develop the popular Google Maps app and oversaw its global expansion, incorporating geo-coding in dozens of countries and creating the transit tool that allows users to plan itineraries on public buses and trains.

Hannon does not appear to have political campaign experience but has worked at a number of Silicon Valley companies, including Facebook, Cisco and Intel, according to her LinkedIn profile. She earned a bachelor’s degree in computer systems engineering and a master’s degree in electrical engineering at Stanford University as well as a master of business administration degree at Harvard Business School.

(From: The Washington Post)