Karen May

VP Leadership and Talent, Google

With over 20 years of professional experience as an organizational psychologist and leadership coach, Karen joined Google in 2010 to head up the company’s learning, talent and career development programs. Karen oversees a global team that supports more than 28,000 Googlers in more than 60 offices in over 30 countries. The team implements a broad range of developmental offerings, including executive coaching, new hire on boarding, leadership development, and peer-to-peer instruction for Googlers of all levels, regions and tenure. Karen also works to ensure that much of Google’s learning curriculum is built in the spirit of our innovative products, utilizing our technology and putting the user first.

Under her leadership, many courses are collaborative and interactive and integrated with social media and gaming components. Googlers can often design the training pace that works best for them--whether it be mobile phone mini-quizzes for those who are on the go, or sequential online modules for linear learners. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology at U.C. Berkeley, building on her B.A. in psychology from Mills College. Karen is also an active community leader and has served as the president of the Mills College Alumnae Association and as president of the Oakland (CA) Police Foundation Board of Directors.

Karen regularly can be found hiking the hills of Marin County with her husband and two dogs.