GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Google Canada has new boss
Google has a new head of Canadian operations nearly three months after its previous country director left the company, and she says she is ready to help the country as it is having its big technology moment.
Sabrina Geremia is taking over as country director of Google Canada, the company said Tuesday, after filling in as interim-leader since Sam Sebastian left for Pelmorex Media Inc. in July.
“I’m super excited to be doing this role for a number of reasons, but mostly just because of the stage that we are at and the moment Canada is having right now,” Geremia said in an exclusive interview.
“I’ve been in Canada now for 10 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an exciting time in terms of everyone working together and having a shared vision of the future, and the ability for Google to really play a part in that.”
Geremia has been with Google for 11 years in various capacities — including Canada’s managing director of integrated solutions. She is a board member with Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone as well as an adviser on the City of Toronto Innovation Economy Advisory Council and Move the Dial, an initiative to encourage more women in tech.
Under Geremia’s leadership, Google Canada will be focusing on three main things.
First is helping businesses grow in the country using various Google services, including the increased push in the Google Cloud category. More importantly, Google wants to support the Canadian tech sector, and help grow digital skills in youth and young women here, Geremia said.
“We are at this moment with machine learning and artificial intelligence really taking off and there are a lot of conditions for success
I’m super excited ... mostly because of the stage that we are at and the moment Canada is having right now.
here with the government really leaning into it and lots of interesting startups,” Geremia said.
“We are at the heart of a real thing happening globally and Canada is forming a lot of the great research and thinking. Even a lot of Google’s products are being informed by a lot of the great work being done in Canada.”
Prior to Google, Sabrina has 22 years of international experience in marketing, public relations and sales at companies such as Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser and Ask Jeeves, and has worked in Italy and the U.K.
Geremia thinks Canada’s unique set of skills and diversity is what puts it at the forefront of new technology such as machine learning and artificial technology.
“The really neat thing setting us apart is our ability to collaborate and really our ability to also leverage our diversity,” she said. “A lot of incubators are getting together to help startups go further faster, such as through sharing playbooks, trying to find out how they can work together to connect to funding or even bringing Google in to deliver training.”
“We need to work together because we need to punch above our weight. Every startup should be a technology startup that is reaching for global (markets),” she said.
“The solutions of the future are made with creativity, diverse perspectives and people from different places working together. If we can do that and we can execute it … then I think we are on to a winner.”