Obama names former Google, Twitter officials to White House tech jobs

[September 05, 2014]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama tapped Silicon Valley for two key positions on his technology policy team on Thursday, naming Megan Smith from Google as his chief technology officer and Alexander Macgillivray, formerly of Twitter, as a deputy.

Smith was vice president of the "Google X" lab that worked on projects like driverless cars and Google Glass eyewear, and led acquisitions for the company like Picasa and Google Maps.

Macgillivray was general counsel and head of public policy at Twitter from 2009 until 2013, and will advise the White House on big data and privacy policy and other Internet and intellectual property issues.

Smith replaces Todd Park, who started two successful health technology companies before joining the government. Park recently returned to California, but continues to work for the administration, recruiting tech experts into the government.

Macgillivray replaces Nicole Wong, who left the White House last month. Wong had been legal director at Twitter and a former Google lawyer before she joined the White House, and helped lead the recent White House review of big data and privacy issues.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton)

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