Marissa Mayer and her career path
Marissa Mayer is an acknowledged authority on technology. She was CEO of Yahoo! and a member of Google’s executive board.
Mayer was born in Wisconsin in 1975 to an engineer and an art teacher. Her parents actively supported their daughter’s hobbies and enrolled her in numerous clubs and classes. As a result, Marissa was never afraid to start something new as an adult. Ballet played a special role in her life. According to the woman, these classes instilled discipline in her.
Marissa did well in school and participated actively in activities, which helped her get into 10 prestigious colleges, including Yale and Stanford. She chose the latter, initially intending to become a paediatric neurosurgeon. However, a course in computer science, which is part of medical school, made Mayer reconsider. She focused on studying computer science and psychology. In 1997, Marissa earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and artificial intelligence. She later defended her master’s degree in the same field.
Professional path
Mayer started working early in her career. She held positions at a research lab in Switzerland and SRI International in the US. One day, she received a job offer from a small start-up in the form of a standard newsletter. Marissa was interested in the job, so she went to Google for an interview. After some consideration, she accepted the offer.
During her time at Google, Marissa was responsible for the development and launch of a number of the company’s major products. Among them:
– creating the search engine interface;
– Gmail launch;
– Google Maps launch;
– Chrome browser design;
– Google Health and Google News development.
She was also actively involved in launching other company services. Marissa improved processes in the CRM systems and worked on talent acquisition, helping to build a strong team of specialists. Overall, Mayer was instrumental in developing Google’s search engine and improving the company’s technology solutions.
In 2005, Mayer took up the post of vice president at Google, and in 2012, she left the company to head up Yahoo, where she worked as an executive director until 2017. She resigned following Yahoo’s acquisition of Verizon. The deal added US$186 million to Mayer’s fortune.
Personal life
Marissa is married to a property investor and has three children. She actively engages in charitable projects and is a member of several public organisations. In addition, she continues to follow technology trends and invests in several companies.