Search giant Google tapped Dr. Larry Brilliant, a man with deep roots both in technology and altruism, to head Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm.
Google Inc. has recently announced the appointment of Dr. Larry Brilliant as Executive Director of Google.org, which administers Google’s philanthropic activities. Dr. Brilliant, 61, an admitted radical and associate of Wavy Gravy, a 1960s countercultural figure, will become the executive director of Google’s charitable arm, which has an initial war chest of $1 billion.
Google.org is the umbrella term for Google’s philanthropic efforts, which includes the work of the Google Foundation, some of Google’s own projects using Google talent, technology and other resources, as well as partnerships and contributions to for-profit and non-profit entities.
In this role he will work with the company’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to define the mission and strategic goals of Google’s philanthropy. Dr. Brilliant is a founder and director of The Seva Foundation, a Policy Advisory Council Member at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of Kleiner-Perkins’ Pandemic and Bio-Defense Fund.
Dr. Brilliant’s resume shows that he spent as much time in nonprofit public health services as he is directing technology companies in Silicon Valley, where he currently resides.
Dr. Brilliant’s background seems to fit well with Google’s motto—“Don’t be evil”—and its philanthropic ambition. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have set a hefty goal for Google.org.
We hope that someday this institution will eclipse Google itself in overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world’s problems, they said in a joint statement on the site.
Today we are excited to announce that we have found a leader that embodies that goal in spirit and in accomplishments — Larry Brilliant.
"I’m deeply honored to have been selected to direct Google.org," said Dr. Brilliant. "I have great admiration for Google’s technical contributions to society and believe that it can have an equally great impression through philanthropy."
Brilliant Profile!
Dr. Brilliant has a wide range of previous experience in the fields of international health and development, business and technology. He is a physician and epidemiologist, board certified in public health and preventive medicine and a specialist in international health.
Dr. Brilliant holds a MPH in Economic Development and Health Planning from the University of Michigan. He also has a MD from Wayne State University and received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Knox College.
He spent a decade in India in the 1970s, starting his career as a medical officer with the World Health Organization, heading an effort to arrest the spread of smallpox in that country. He was the chief executive of SoftNet Systems, a broadband company based in San Francisco, and Cometa Networks, a wireless venture, among other businesses.
In 1978 Dr. Brilliant founded Seva Foundation, an organization committed to the sharing of Western technology and skills with the developing world. His friend Wavy Gravy and wife Girija are members of Seva’s board.
The executive and staff at the foundation, which is based in Berkeley, California, is an eclectic coterie of social workers, doctors, engineers, and new age religious figures working to close the digital divide.
Dr. Brilliant also worked for the UN in the fields of blindness and polio eradication. He was associate professor of International Health and Epidemiology at the University of Michigan for many years.
Dr. Brilliant has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2006 TED Prize; the "Community Peacemaker Award" from Wayne State University; the "International Health Hero Award" from the University of California, Berkeley; WHO’s Order of the Bifurcated Needle, and the Government of India’s Health Minister’s Award.
Dr. Brilliant is a patent holder, and the author of two books and dozens of articles on international health. He serves on several non-profit and corporate boards and is a member of various professional societies.
Google.org focuses on several areas including global poverty, health, energy and the environment and has made over $7 million in investments and grants to date