Ruth Porat, chief financial officer of Morgan Stanley, was appointed to the same position at Google on Tuesday, joining a growing list of senior Wall Street figures who have headed for Silicon Valley amid the latest tech boom.
She follows the example of Anthony Noto, who moved last year from Goldman Sachs to become CFO of Twitter, as well as Credit Suisse tech banker Imran Khan, who is now chief strategist at rising internet messaging service Snapchat. Another top Morgan Stanley female executive, star internet analyst Mary Meeker, moved to Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers four years ago.
Ms Porat’s move takes her from a role that made her one of the most senior women on Wall Street to a similar position in Silicon Valley, which has been beset by questions about why so few women make it to prominent roles. She succeeds Patrick Pichette, who announcement his retirement from Google two weeks ago at the age of 52. Morgan Stanley appointed Jonathan Pruzan, co-head of the financial institutions group, to replace her.