DubaiBeat Interviews Google’s VP of Search Products & User Experience, Marissa Mayer

Marissa Mayer is the Vice President of Search Products & User Experience at Google, leading Google's product management efforts on search products. She joined Google in 1999 as Google's first female engineer and led the user interface and web server teams at that time. (Marissa has been featured in various publications, including Newsweek "10 Tech Leaders of the Future", Red Herring "15 Women to Watch", Business 2.0 "Silicon Valley Dream Team", BusinessWeek, Fortune, and Fast Company.) She exclusively talks to DubaiBeat.com on the sidelines the World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda here in Dubai.

Listen to the audio version here:

You are directing user experience and product management at Google after starting as a user experience developer in early days. Would you please tell us more about your work in Google?

I work in the Product Management function. Is it looking at how do things work, how do they look, how do they meet the user’s needs. I work on products that are related to search. So core web search, Image search, News, our Geo products like Maps, Earth as well as Toolbar, our new Chrome product, iGoogle, etc. We are looking at what information needs meet the user and how do we meet those needs as part of the user experience.

It is great to see you hear in Dubai. Can you please tell us about the background of your experience with the World Economic Forum?

I am really excited because I am here in Dubai for the first time I arrived just this morning. It is a really vibrant and thriving city and I have always wanted to see it. So it is great being here. I have involved with the World Economic Forum for the past few years. I’ve occasionally attended Davos in a faculty capacity and I am excited to be here taking part in the Global Agenda Summit.

I understand you are here as a member of the Council on the Technology and Education. Can you tell us about your role in the Council specifically?

We met this afternoon to talk about some of the challenges for technology and education. The tools that we need to help bridge the gaps we see growing in the world as well as how education practice need to change; even separate from the technology issues. It is really interesting I think as it is a pivotal problem and we need to solve it together.

And my last question: How did you find Dubai so far?

Oh it’s been really really fun. I’ve got to see a little bit today, places like Mall of the Emirates and Palaces. I even got to go and visit the Google office which was the highlight of the day as it was good to see the blend of Google culture with the culture here in Dubai.