US looking to Google's Megan Smith to be chief tech officer?
As the search for the country's new CTO gets under way, one report says the choice could be the vice president of Google X.
Google's vice president of Google X, Megan Smith, is said to be one of the US government's top candidates for the chief technology officer position, according to Bloomberg.
President Barack Obama's administration has been on the hunt for a new CTO and sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg that the shortlist includes Smith. If selected, she would replace Todd Park, who was the successor to Aneesh Chopra.
Smith, 49, has spent the last 11 years at Google in several different positions, including vice president of business development, head of Google.org, and co-host of Google's Solve for X forum. She's also been active in bringing more women and people of color into the tech world.
The CTO position would entail supervising how the US government uses technology, which includes tech job creation, expanding access to broadband for rural communities, and modernizing government records.
When contacted by CNET, Google declined to comment.