- Google’s Workspace leader Aparna Pappu is stepping down, per an internal memo.
- Jerry Dischler, president of Google’s cloud applications, will lead Workspace moving forward.
- Pappu will remain an advisor to Workspace before moving to a new role.
Google Workspace is undergoing a leadership shuffle.
Aparna Pappu, vice president and general manager of the unit, is stepping down, and Jerry Dischler, president of cloud applications, is taking charge of the group. Pappu has led the unit since July 2022, when she replaced Javier Soltero, former head of Workspace and Microsoft veteran.
“I’m ready for the next opportunity at Google and stepping down from my current role as GM of Workspace,” Pappu told staff in a memo last week, which was viewed by Business Insider.
Pappu said she would remain in an advisory position for Workspace before transitioning to a new role within Google.
She said her senior reports, including Anurag Agarwal, Google Workspace’s vice president of engineering, and Yulie Kwon Kim, vice president of product, would now report to Dischler. Pappu had previously reported up to Dischler.
Dischler moved to a new role as Google’s president of cloud applications earlier this year after 15 years working on Google’s ads. Reporting to Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, Dischler’s role heavily centers on integrating AI into customers’ businesses.
In addition, Google has appointed Precisely’s former chief revenue officer Pat McCarthy as its new head of Workspace sales, according to a person with knowledge of the matter and an internal org chart reviewed by Business Insider. The role was previously held by Bob Frati, who BI first reported had departed earlier this year.
A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The shake-up comes at a critical time for Google’s Workspace business as it tries to get customers to pay for new generative AI features. It competes with Microsoft’s Office 365 Suite, which offers its own Copilot AI features and has so far heralded uneven results.
Google is racing to convince customers they should use Gemini tools instead. It held an internal competition for employees to pitch ideas for AI “prompts” that customers may find useful, according to internal documents seen by BI.
Pappu, who previously led these efforts, acknowledged the work around AI in her memo last week.
“That’s really the best feeling of all — when your team has ‘got this,”” she wrote. “And we’ve especially got this AI thing — we know what we need to do and we’re razor focused on execution.
“With all that in mind, I knew it was time for something new for me.”
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