Lorraine Twohill Explained

Lorraine Twohill is an Irish marketer who is the CMO of Google.

Early life

Twohill was born in Carlow, Ireland.^[1] Twohill earned a degree in international marketing and languages from Dublin City University in 1992.^{[2] [3]}

Career

After graduating, Twohill worked for Burns Philp during the 1990s. She left the company to join the Government of Ireland's Bord Fáilte, where she managed operations for Italy from Milan and later oversaw operations for Northern Europe from Amsterdam.^[4] Her first big advertising campaign was for Tourism Ireland, and she was part of the team responsible for developing what became an award-winning tourism website for the Irish government.^{[5] [6]} Twohill was later the head of marketing for the online travel agencies Dreamticket and Opodo.^[7] She left Opodo, where she oversaw all marketing operations, in April 2003.^[8]

In 2003, Twohill was hired as Google's first marketer located outside the United States. She held various roles in the company, including running Google's marketing efforts in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She ultimately was promoted to become head of global marketing in 2009.^[9]

Incognito Controversy

Google agreed to destroy billions of records to settle a lawsuit claiming it secretly tracked the internet use of people who thought they were browsing privately in its Chrome browser’s incognito mode. In 2019, Twohill wrote to CEO Sundar Pichai, “We are limited in how strongly we can market Incognito because it’s not truly private, thus requiring really fuzzy, hedging language that is almost more damaging.” ^[10]

Boards

Twohill joined the board of directors of Telegraph Media Group in 2008,^[11] and became a director of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. in 2012.^[12] She was appointed to the board of directors of Palo Alto Networks in 2019.^[13]

Notes and References

1. News: O'Connell . Jennifer . Silicon 50 event celebrates most influential Irish people in the valley . . 10 October 2014 . 0791-5144 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240518175258/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/silicon-50-event-celebrates-most-influential-irish-people-in-the-valley-1.1958139 . 18 May 2024.
2. News: Bacon . Jonathan . Profile: Lorraine Twohill, Google . . 26 November 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240714132757/https://www.marketingweek.com/profile-lorraine-twohill-google/ . 14 July 2024.
3. News: Hunt . Joanne . There's more to a doodle when working for Google . The Irish Times . 18 May 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190223184855/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/there-s-more-to-a-doodle-when-working-for-google-1.521607?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fmedia-and-marketing%2Fthere-s-more-to-a-doodle-when-working-for-google-1.521607 . 23 February 2019.
4. News: Hunt . Joanne . 18 May 2012 . There's more to a doodle when working for Google . The Irish Times.
5. News: Bacon . Jonathan . 26 November 2014 . Profile: Lorraine Twohill, Google . Marketing Week.
6. News: O'Brien . Ciara . 5 October 2023 . Google in Ireland: 'There's a whole force of Irish in the US who've come from the Dublin office' . The Irish Times.
7. News: Hall . Emma . 7 August 2006 . Lorraine Twohill, 35 . . Crain Communications.
8. 9 July 2003 . Google hires Opodo's Twohill for marketing strategy . . . 0008-2309.
9. Web site: Technology: Google VP of Global Marketing Lorraine Twohill. 2016-10-04.
10. Web site: Google to destroy billions of private browsing records to settle lawsuit. Guardian. 2024-04-19.
11. News: Luft . Oliver . Google's Lorraine Twohill joins Telegraph board . . 15 October 2008.
12. News: McCabe . Saah . Ireland's top exec at Google is moving on up . . 28 June 2014.
13. Web site: Lorraine Twohill . Palo Alto Networks . 10 April 2019 . U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.