GCP – Google Cloud establishes European Advisory Board

Customers around the globe turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to digitally transform, enable growth, and solve their most critical business problems. To help inform Google Cloud on how it can continually improve the value and experience it delivers for its customers in Europe, the company has set up a European advisory board comprising accomplished leaders from across industries. 

Rather than representing Google Cloud, the European Advisory Board serves as an important feedback channel and critical voice to the company in Europe, helping ensure its products and services meet European requirements. The group also helps Google Cloud accelerate the understanding of key challenges enterprises across industries and the public sector face and helps further drive the company’s expertise and differentiation in the region.

Members of the European Advisory Board offer proven expertise and distinct understanding of key market dynamics in Europe. Google Cloud’s European Advisory Board Members are:

Michael Diekmann
Michael Diekmann is currently Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Allianz SE, having served as Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO from 2003 to 2015. He is also Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, and a member of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG. Mr. Diekmann presently holds seats at various international Advisory Boards and is an Honorary Chairman of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai (IBLAC).

Brent Hoberman
Brent Hoberman is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Founders Factory (global venture studios, seed programmes and accelerator programmes), Founders Forum (global community of founders, corporates and tech leaders), and firstminute capital ($300m seed fund with global remit, backed by over 100+ unicorn founders). Previously, he co-foundedMade.com in 2010, which went public in 2021 with a valuation of $1.1bn, andlastminute.com in 1998 where he was CEO from its inception and sold it in 2005 to Sabre for $1.1bn. Mr. Hoberman has backed nine unicorns at Seed stage, and technology businesses he has co-founded have raised over $1bn and include Karakuri.

Anne-Marie Idrac 
Anne-Marie Idrac is former Minister of French State for Foreign Trade, Minister of State for Transport, and member of the Assemblée Nationale. Ms. Idrac’s other roles include chair and CEO of RATP and of French Railways SNCF, as well as chair of Toulouse–Blagnac Airport. 

She is currently a director of Saint Gobain, Total, and Air France KLM. Ms. Idrac also chairs the advisory board of the public affairs school of Sciences Po in Paris, as well as France’s Logistics Association. She is also a special senior representative to the French autonomous vehicles strategy group.

Julia Jaekel 
Julia Jaekel served for almost ten years as CEO of Gruner + Jahr, a leading media and publishing company and held various leadership positions in Bertelsmann SE & Co KGaA, including on the Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee. She is currently on the Board of Adevinta ASA and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group.

Jim Snabe (Lead Advisor) 
Jim Snabe currently serves as Chairman at Siemens and board member at C3.ai. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees and Adjunct Professor at Copenhagen Business School. Mr. Snabe was previously co-CEO of SAP and Chairman of A. P. Moller Maersk. 

Delphine Geny Stephann
Delphine Gény-Stephann is the former Secretary of State to the Minister of the Economy and Finance in France. She held various leadership positions in Saint-Gobain, including on the group’s General Management Committee. She is currently on the Board of Eagle Genomics, EDF and Thales.

Jos White
Jos White is a founding partner at Notion Capital, a venture capital firm focused on SaaS and Cloud. Jos is a pioneer in Europe’s Internet and SaaS industry having co-founded Star, one of the UK’s first Internet providers and MessageLabs, one of the world’s first SaaS companies, and through Notion who have made more than 70 investments in European SaaS companies including Arqit, CurrencyCloud, Dixa, GoCardless, Mews, Paddle, Unbabel and Yulife.