Google Cloud adds slew of execs as it builds out its industry, vertical focus

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Google Cloud is filling out its executive ranks as it focuses its industries including supply chain, logistics, transportation, financial services, and healthcare.

The company outlined the following hires:

• Hans Thalbauer joins Google Cloud as managing director, global supply chain, logistics, and transportation solutions. Thalbauer, an SAP veteran, will report to Lori Mitchell-Keller, vice president of industry solutions at Google Cloud. Keller joined Google Cloud in May.
• Paula Natoli joins Google Cloud as director, global supply chain, logistics, and transportation solutions. She will report to Thalbauer.
• Derek White joins Google Cloud as vice president of Global Financial Services. He will report to Mitchell-Keller.
• Joe Miles, formerly an SAP executive, joins Google Cloud as managing director of Google Cloud Healthcare and Life Sciences. He will report to Mitchell-Keller.

Google Cloud's plan to date is to leverage its machine learning, artificial intelligence, and analytics know-how into industries that are deploying multi-cloud architectures. For instance, Google Cloud is looking to stake out turf in retail since AWS competes with that customer base. Financial services have found Google Cloud's machine learning tools handy and the company recently named Yolande Piazza vice president of financial services.

Also: 2021 IT budgets | Managing Microservices, AI and ML, Multicloud, Edge computing

Media has also been a focus area for Google Cloud and the company in May named George Nazi, vice president of industry solutions for telecommunications, media, and entertainment.

While Google Cloud lands in accounts as a secondary cloud provider in many cases, it can expand its wallet share with its analytics tools as well as Anthos, its hybrid cloud platform. Google Cloud is also expanding its business application platform to appeal to more enterprise users.  

Think of the new hires as the second wave of enterprise software expertise added since 2019. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian has surrounded himself with enterprise software veterans.   

In 2019, Google Cloud added Hamidou Dia as Google Cloud's vice president of solutions engineering. Hamidou was most recently Oracle's chief of sales consulting, consulting, enterprise architecture, and customer success. Google Cloud also named John Jester vice president of customer experience and a Microsoft vet. Dia and Jester were added shortly after Rob Enslin joined Google Cloud as president of global customer operations. Enslin was formerly at SAP. 

Also: Former Microsoft exec Javier Soltero to lead the Google G Suite team  

Recent Google Cloud moves include:

• Google Cloud's Business Application Platform aims to court citizen, business developers with no-code approach
• Google Cloud launches Anthos updates for identity, Kubernetes clusters, app modernization tools
• Is Anthos the edge Google needs in enterprise cloud?
• Box and Google announce expanded cloud partnership
• Google: Here come 11 new security features across Gmail, Meet and Chat