Diane B. Greene (born June 9, 1955) [2] is an American technology entrepreneur and executive.[3] Greene started her career as a naval architect before transitioning to the tech industry, where she was a founder and CEO of VMware from 1998 until 2008. She was a board director of Google and CEO of Google Cloud from 2015 until 2019.[4][5] She was also the co-founder and CEO of two startups, Bebop[6] and VXtreme,[7] which were acquired by Google and Microsoft, for $380 million and $75 million.
Diane Greene | |
|---|---|
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| Born | June 9, 1955 Annapolis, Maryland, U.S. |
| Education | University of Vermont (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MArch) University of California, Berkeley (MS) |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Co-founding VMware, leadership at Google |
| Spouse | Mendel Rosenblum |
| Children | 2[1] |
Early life and education
editBorn in Annapolis, Maryland to an engineer and a teacher,[8] Greene received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Vermont in 1976[9] and a master's degree in Naval Architecture from MIT in 1978.
In 1987, she attended and graduated with a master's degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley,[10] where she met her future husband and co-founder of VMware, Mendel Rosenblum.
Career
editAt age 19, Greene ran the first Windsurfing World Championship and won the national women's dinghy championship in 1976.[8] Early in her career, Greene worked as a naval architect, where she designed ocean-going vessels and offshore structures. She also ran engineering for Windsurfing International. After getting her second master's degree in computer science, she transitioned to the tech industry and worked as an engineer and manager at Sybase, Tandem Computers, and Silicon Graphics.[11] She also co-founded and was CEO of VXtreme, which was acquired by Microsoft and became the basis for Microsoft's movie player.[7]
VMware
editIn 1998, Greene, Mendel Rosenblum, Scott Devine, Edward Wang and Edouard Bugnion founded VMware.[12] With Greene as CEO, VMware created the market for mainstream virtualization and pioneered x86 virtualization. They first introduced the technology on the desktop as a way to run multiple operating systems side by side without requiring a reboot. They then introduced virtualization on the server as a way to simplify system management, increase server utilization, and save power. Today, virtualization is the ubiquitous way to run servers.
In 2004, VMware was acquired by EMC Corporation for $635 million, and Greene continued as CEO. VMware functioned as a subsidiary, keeping its name, brand, and products and achieving a $2 billion run rate.[13][14] In 2007, VMware went public to a $19.1 billion valuation, making it the largest tech IPO of 2007.[15] On July 8, 2008, Greene was fired as president and CEO by the VMware board of directors and replaced by Paul Maritz, a retired 14-year Microsoft veteran who was running the cloud computing business of VMware parent company EMC.[16][11] Greene was asked to stay on and take a significant role in the company, but she declined.[17]
Greene has spoken about her experience founding and scaling VMware at Stanford,[18] at YCombinator's Startup School,[19] on (Linkedin co-founder) Reid Hoffman's "Masters of Scale" podcast series, and more.
On January 12, 2012, Greene was appointed to the Google board of directors.[20] Greene filled the 10th seat on Google's board of directors, a seat that had previously been filled in October 2009 by Arthur D. Levinson.[21]
In November 2015, Greene was named CEO of Google Cloud following the acquisition of her startup, Bebop.[22] As CEO of Google Cloud, Greene created Google's first enterprise-capable business unit. A few months after she stepped down as CEO of Google Cloud in January 2019, Google reported that the company's cloud unit had reached $8 billion in annualized revenue.[23] Greene was succeeded as CEO of Google Cloud by former Oracle executive Thomas Kurian.[24][5] She retained a seat on the board of Alphabet until June of the same year.[25][26][27]
Board memberships
editGreene has served as a board member of Alphabet, Intuit, Khan Academy, SAP, Stripe, A.P. Moller - Maersk, and Wix.com.[28] In 2020, she was elected chair of the MIT board of directors.[29] She has also served as co-chair of the advisory board at the University of California, Berkeley's College of Engineering.
Awards
edit- In 2007, Fortune named Greene as one of America's 50 Most Powerful Women.[30]
- Greene and Mendel Rosenblum received the IEEE Computer Society's Computer Entrepreneur Award in 2011 for "creating a virtualization platform" as founders of VMware.
- Greene was a judge for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2013.
- In 2017, Greene was listed on Bloomberg's 50 List of the world's most influential people.[31]
- In 2017, Greene was recognized with Abie Award for Technical Leadership from the Anita Borg Institute as "one of the most iconic technology leaders of the last 20 years."[32][33]
- In 2017, Greene received an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Vermont.
- In 2018, Greene was named one of America's Top 50 Women in Tech by Forbes.[34]
- In 2018, Greene was elected a member of the US National Academy of Engineering[35] for contributions in transforming virtualization from a concept to an industry.
Personal life
editGreene met her husband, Mendel Rosenblum, while at Berkeley.[36] The couple has two children together, a son and a daughter, and live in Stanford, California.[37] Greene is also an expert crabber and sailor, having grown up doing both in Maryland.[38]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "15 successful startup founders who can also claim the title of 'Mom'". Business Insider.
- ^ Diane Greene bio in Mercury News
- ^ Williams, Alex (2012-08-23). "Data Center Analytics Startup CloudPhysics Raises $2.5 Million From Mayfield Partners, VMware Co-Founders". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Transitioning Google Cloud after three great years". 2018-11-16.
- ^ a b "New Google cloud boss Thomas Kurian warns, 'You will see us competing much more aggressively'". CNBC. 2019-02-12.
- ^ Novet, Jordan (2020-08-05). "Google paid $380M to buy Bebop, executive Diane Greene donating her $148M share". VentureBeat.
- ^ a b Microsoft to Acquire VXtreme'
- ^ a b Calhoun, Lisa (23 November 2015). "47 Surprising Facts About Google's New Cloud Captain, Diane Greene". Inc.com.
- ^ "The Wall Street Journal List - One of the Journal's 50". Vermont Quarterly. University of Vermont. September 2008. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
- ^ Lashinsky, Adam (2007-10-02). "Full speed ahead". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- ^ a b Shambora, Jessica (July 9, 2008). "Adventures in entrepreneurship: CEO Diane Greene departs VMware". Fortune. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
- ^ "VMware Leadership".
- ^ "News Releases - United States". VMware. Archived from the original on 2008-05-02. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
- ^ "EMC Completes Acquisition of VMware". Dell Technologies.
- ^ "2007: VMware IPO: A Silicon Valley giant is born". Mercury News. 15 August 2007. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
- ^ Savitz, Eric (2008-07-08). "VMware ousts CEO Diane Greene; cuts '08 guidance". Barron's. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- ^ Allison, Kevin (2008-07-08). "VMware shares dive after founder ousted". Financial Times. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
- ^ "Blitzscaling 15: Diane Greene". YouTube. 23 November 2015.
- ^ "Diane Greene at Startup School 2013". YouTube. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
- ^ "Google appoints Diane B. Greene to its Board of Directors". January 12, 2012.
- ^ "Ex-VMware CEO Diane Greene Joins Google Board". Archived from the original on October 24, 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
- ^ "Google Picks Diane Greene to Expand Its Cloud Business". The New York Times. November 19, 2015.
- ^ "Google Cloud is generating $8 billion in revenue a year and plans to triple sales force". CNBC. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
- ^ Novet, Jordan (November 16, 2018). "Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene is out, to be replaced by former Oracle exec Thomas Kurian". CNBC.
- ^ "Who is the new Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian?". Computer World. Archived from the original on 2018-11-20. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
- ^ Elias, Jennifer (November 19, 2018). "Executive tensions led to Google Cloud chief departure, report says". Silicon Valley Business Journal.
- ^ "Former Google executives Eric Schmidt, Diane Greene to leave board". Reuters. 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
- ^ Rooney, Kate (6 August 2019). "Payments giant Stripe adds to global expansion spree with first office in Latin America". CNBC. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "Diane Greene SM '78 elected chair of the MIT Corporation". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "The Power 50". Fortune.
- ^ "Bloomberg 50". Bloomberg.
- ^ "Diane Greene - AnitaB.org". anitab.org. 1 August 2017. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
- ^ "Abie Awards - AnitaB.org". anitab.org.
- ^ "Diane Greene". Forbes.
- ^ "Ms. Diane Greene". Forbes.
- ^ "In 1988 she picked up a second master's, in computer science, at the University of California, Berkeley, where she met Rosenblum. They have two children."Lashinksky, Adam (2007-10-02). "50 Most Powerful Women in Business - Full speed ahead". CNN.
- ^ Wray, Richard. "Software plumber stops companies leaking cash". The Guardian.
- ^ "Diane Green: Look sideways | Masters of Scale podcast". WaitWhat. Retrieved 2018-03-20.