Israeli Exec Meir Brand Named New Google VP

Haaretz reports: Meir Brand (pictured), CEO of Google Israel since 2005, was promoted last week to the role of vice president of the giant multinational technology firm.

Brand will continue as Google’s director for EMEA Emerging Markets (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), as a management team member of Google EMEA, and head of Google Israel.

Brand’s promotion along with that of other senior executives was announced last week by an email sent out by Google CEO Sundar Pichai to all company employees.

After completing a bachelor’s degree in economics at Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree at Harvard, Brand began his career in the internet world in 1999 as a business development director for excite@home, one of the leading internet providers and search engines of that period.

“It was clear to me after the collapse that it was temporary – that the world of the internet had enormous potential, which was very far from fulfillment,” said Brand referring to the period of the bursting of the internet bubble in the 1990s, in an interview with TheMarker. As a result, he added, he decided that he pursue a career in the internet industry.