His name is James Manyika. This Zimbabwean has managed to land the role of first Senior Vice President of Technology and Society at the Google, the American multinational technology company everyone depends on! Talk about the talent that Zimbabweans possess.
Appointment At Google
James Manyika goes down in history as the first Senior Vice President of Technology and Society at Google.
The newly created position will report to Alphabet’s C.E.O Sundar Pichai and focuses on how tech affects society. Pichai had this to say with regards to the appointment:
“I’m thrilled that James Manyika will be joining Google’s leadership team…He’s spent decades working at the intersection of technology and society and has advised a number of businesses, academic institutions and governments along the way.”
Who Is James Manyika?
James Manyika didn’t land this post at Google just out of the blue. His CV shows that he certainly deserved this achievement.
James Manyika studied at the University of Zimbabwe, Rhodes then Oxford and has had a great career since. His noteworthy qualifications and achievements are:
A DPhil, MS, amd MA from Oxford in the following:
- AI and robotics
- Mathematics
- Computer Science
From the University of Zimbabwe:
- BS first class in Electrical Engineering
He was elected:
- A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- A distinguished fellow of Stanford’s AI Institute
- A visiting fellow of All Souls, Oxford
- A lifetime fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
- A research fellow of DeepMind
Appointed by President Obama
During Obama’s term as President of the United States of America, Manyika was appointed by the President himself to serve as vice chair of the Global Development Council at the White House.
Two US Secretaries went on to appoint him to the Digital Economy Board and to the National Innovation Board as part of the Competes Act.
The Boards James Manyika Is On
In addition to consulting for various large companies in Silicon Valley, Manyika went on to be part of the following boards:
- Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) (America)
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
- Advisory boards at Oxford, MIT, LSE, and Stanford
- Hewlett, MacArthur and Markle (philanthropic foundations)
- Aspen Institute (as trustee)
Past Work
James Manyika served as a visiting scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Labs. At Oxford he was a member of the Programming Research Group and the Robotics Research Lab and was awarded a research fellowship and elected a fellow of Balliol College.
Manyika has served on several national and international taskforces, most recently cochairing CFR’s taskforce on innovation and national security, and appointed by the governor to cochair the state of California’s future of work commission.
Life in Zimbabwe
Some people would think that such success cannot be achieved to this magnitude by someone born and bred in Zimbabwe. Assumptions are that it is easier if you were already born and raised in first world countries. That was not the case for James Manyika.
James Manyika was born and bred in Zimbabwe. His high school years were spent at Prince Edward High School and he later attended the University of Zimbabwe. He then left and continued his studies at Oxford in the late 80s to early 90s.
Provoker Magazine has previously covered the success story of a Mbare raised Zimbabwean who has achieved much success as part of the Pfizer team.
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