Ruth Porat, dubbed by many as the most powerful woman on Wall Street, is leaving Morgan Stanley to become the Chief Financial Officer of Google. That instantly makes Porat one of the most powerful women in the tech world now.
Porat, who joined Morgan Stanley in 1987, played a pivotal role during the financial crisis of 2008, leading the teams that advised the government on the bailouts of AIG (AIG), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. She has played several key roles at the company, including Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group and and co-Head of Technology Investment Banking. She has been the lead banker on numerous milestone technology financing rounds, including for Amazon, eBay, Netscape, Priceline and Verisign as well as for The Blackstone Group, GE and the NYSE. As CFO she helped improve resource optimization across different businesses through better capital and funding allocation, as well as expense reductions.
Born in Sale, Cheshire in northern England, Porat was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Palo Alto, California. Her father was a research fellow in the physics department at Harvard and then he spent 26 years at the Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University. Her mother was a psychologist.
She was lined up by President Obama to take on the role of deputy Treasury secretary in 2013. However, the New York Times reported that she asked the White House to withdraw her name from the shortlist due to concerns about how bankers were being treated by politicians.
“We’re tremendously fortunate to have found such a creative, experienced and operationally strong executive,” said Larry Page, Google CEO and Co-Founder. “I look forward to learning from Ruth as we continue to innovate in our core–from search and ads, to Android, Chrome and YouTube–as well as invest in a thoughtful, disciplined way in our next generation of big bets. Finally, huge thanks to Patrick Pichette for his seven super successful years as CFO”.
“I’m delighted to be returning to my California roots and joining Google,” said Ruth Porat. “Growing up in Silicon Valley, during my time at Morgan Stanley and as a member of Stanford’s Board, I’ve had the opportunity to experience first hand how tech companies can help people in their daily lives. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get started.”
The announcement on March 24 follows the departure of Goldman star tech banker Anthony Noto, who took over as Twitter CFO last year, underscoring an overall shift toward Silicon Valley that has drawn an influx of top college graduates to choose startup life over the promise of fat banking bonuses.
Porat will start at Google as CFO on May 26, reporting to Larry Page.
