Google executive Megan Smith has been named the U.S.’s chief technology officer, to replace outgoing CTO Todd Park, according to the White House. A longtime Googler who led the acquisitions that became Google Maps and Google Earth, and who now works in the company’s secretive Google[x] division, will “guide the Administration’s information-technology policy and initiatives,” according to presidential science advisor John Holdren.
Smith, who is married to (but separated from) Silicon Valley super-journalist Kara Swisher, will be assisted by Alex Macgillivray, the former general counsel at Twitter, who has been photographing eaglets and writing email scripts since leaving the company last year. Together, the pair will attempt to deal with disasters like the original incarnation of Healthcare.gov and bring America’s technological infrastructure into the 21st century, along with (I presume) handling the occasional question from Vice President Biden about how to make the words bigger on his damn Kindle.
