Google Needs New Online Sales and Operations Head
David Fischer will take a sabbatical while Google President, Global Sales Operations Nikesh Arora will take his place temporarily.
It was only a year and a half ago that David Fischer was promoted to lead Google’s Online Sales and Operations division. Today, the company confirmed he will leave that position.
According to a Google spokesperson, Fischer will take a “brief sabbatical,” before “returning to a new leadership position” with the company.
In March 2008, Fischer replaced Sheryl Sandberg, who led online sales of Google’s AdSense and AdWords products when Sandberg moved to Facebook as chief operating officer.
Fischer has also been responsible for managing Google’s consumer products worldwide, according to Google’s Web site. In addition, he has run the firm’s Book Search scanning operations and its Google Grants program, which provides advertising dollars to nonprofit organizations. Fischer also has opened Google sales centers in Ann Arbor, Boston, and locations in India.
While Fischer is away on sabbatical, reportedly through the end of this year, Google’s President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development Nikesh Arora will take over in his place. Arora will continue with his current responsibilities, handling the company’s marketing, partnerships, and revenue and customer operations. The firm has not named a permanent replacement for Fischer.
Google has experienced similar shakeups to its senior staff this year. In April, Arora took on company veteran Omid Kordestani’s role when Kordestani moved on to a newly created senior advisor position.
Also in April, Google lost its President of Asia-Pacific and Latin American Operations Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, who left to work with a Silicon Valley VC firm.
