Tech leader, state native Mayer returns to spotlight
WAUSAU - Marissa Mayer — tech industry leader and former Yahoo CEO — is perhaps Wausau’s most well-known native, and now she’s back with a new product aimed at organizing your phone contacts.
Mayer, 45, graduated from Wausau West High School in 1993 and went on to Stanford University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in symbolic systems and a master’s degree in computer science. She joined Google in 1999 as its first female engineer.
Sunshine — previously known as Lumi
Labs — is a consumer software startup helmed by Mayer and Enrique Muñoz Torres.
The company is debuting with a free invitation-only address book app that relies on artificial intelligence, which Mayer specialized in for both her undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Mayer and Torres met at Google in 2003 and have worked together on numerous projects since. Torres followed Mayer to Yahoo when she took over the company’s top position from 2012 until 2017.
Sunshine Contacts marks Mayer’s return to the spotlight since serving as CEO at Yahoo.
“At Sunshine, we reject the status quo of incomplete, out of date, scattered contacts. Everyone’s contacts are a mess,” the company’s website says. “Getting your contacts in order gives you confidence and fundamentally changes how you think and what you do.”
Essentially, the app is designed to make it easy to share your contact information with others, or keep that data updated for others.
For instance, one can update their contact information within the app and then push it out to others who have their information in Sunshine Contacts.
“As I’ve been working on contacts, some days I just get really upset and concerned that there are thousands of people out there who still have my Google email address or Yahoo email address,” Mayer told CNBC.
Sunshine has raised more than $20 million in venture capital to date, according to CNN.
“Everyone likes to be thought of,” the company website says. “Sunshine creates advanced technology to make mundane tasks effortless, free up your time, and make it easier to be thoughtful.”
Contact Allison Garfield at 715-3519799 or agarfield@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @aligarfield_.