David Drummond (Google)
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David Carl Drummond (born March 6, 1963) is an American business executive and former lawyer. He served as senior vice president of
corporate development Corporate development refers to the planning and execution of strategies to meet organizational objectives. The kinds of activities falling under corporate development may include management team recruitment, phasing in or out of markets or produc ...
and
chief legal officer A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
for
Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and became the parent company of Google and sev ...
, and, formerly, for its subsidiary,
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
. Prior to joining Google, in 2002, Drummond was a partner at law firm
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is an American international law firm that specializes in business, securities, and intellectual property law. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the firm provides legal services to technology, life sciences ...
and then
chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
of software company SmartForce. Drummond retired from Alphabet on January 31, 2020.


Career

Drummond received a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
with a major in history from
Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...
and a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from
Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...
. He was admitted to the
State Bar of California The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...
in 1989 but became ineligible to practice law in California since 2020. Drummond's first time working with Google was in 1998 as a partner at the technology law firm
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is an American international law firm that specializes in business, securities, and intellectual property law. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the firm provides legal services to technology, life sciences ...
's corporate transactions group; he was Google's first outside counsel. Drummond worked with Google co-founders
Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American business magnate, computer scientist and internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was the chief executive officer of Google from 1997 unt ...
and
Sergey Brin Sergey Mikhailovich Brin (russian: link=no, Сергей Михайлович Брин; born August 21, 1973) is an American business magnate, computer scientist, and internet entrepreneur, who co-founded Google with Larry Page. Brin was the ...
to raise funding and incorporate the company. Drummond was chief financial officer (CFO) of software company SmartForce from June 1999 until January 2002. In July 2007, Drummond and three other SmartForce executives settled accounting violation charges brought by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
(SEC) resulting from an overstatement of the company's net income by $127 million during a period of time from 1999 to 2002. Drummond paid a $700,000 fine to the SEC; he was also ordered to pay a $125,000 civil fine by the New Hampshire District Court. In February 2002, Drummond joined Google as vice president of corporate development and
general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
. He became Google's senior vice president of corporate development in January 2006 and chief legal officer in December 2006, positions he retained following Google's restructure into
Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and became the parent company of Google and sev ...
in October 2015. He has also been secretary at Google and Alphabet since 2002. During his tenure at Google, Drummond was involved in lawsuits the company fought against
GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owne ...
,
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
and the
Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
. He played a central role in Google's right to be forgotten dispute in Europe and the company's exit from China in 2010. He also oversaw major acquisitions including
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, Android,
DoubleClick DoubleClick Inc. was an advertisement company that developed and provided Internet ad serving services from 1995 until its acquisition by Google in March 2008. DoubleClick offered technology products and services that were sold primarily to adv ...
and
Motorola Mobility Motorola Mobility LLC, marketed as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android OS, Android. It is a subsidiary of the Chinese multinational technology company ...
. Drummond is an advocate for
freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
and
diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...
. Drummond was charged by the SEC in 2005 with causing Google to violate securities law because he failed to advise the company's board that the company was required to register $80 million in stock options used as compensation for employees. The SEC said in its press release, "By deciding Google could escape its disclosure requirements, and failing to inform the Board of the legal risks of his determination, Drummond caused the company to run afoul of the federal securities laws." In January 2005, Google and Drummond settled the complaint by agreeing not to violate securities laws in the future. Neither Google nor Drummond paid a fine or acknowledged wrongdoing. Drummond and other Google executives were defendants in a trial in Italy which began in 2009 over a video of a child being bullied which had been uploaded to
Google Video Google Video was a free video hosting service launched by the multinational technology company Google on January 25, 2005. Similar to YouTube, this platform allowed video clips to be hosted on Google servers and embedded on to other websites ...
in 2006. None of the executives charged had any involvement with the creation or posting of the video and Google removed the video after being notified by authorities. The case could have had ramifications for content providers around the world. In 2010, Drummond and two other Google executives were found guilty of privacy violations and handed six-month suspended sentences. They were cleared of defamation charges. In December 2012, the convictions and sentences were overturned on appeal. Drummond joined
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
's board of directors in August 2013 after
Google Ventures GV is a venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc., founded by Bill Maris, that provides Seed investment, seed, Venture capital financing, venture, and Growth investing, growth stage funding to technology companies. Founded as Google Venture ...
led a $360 million funding round for Uber. Drummond stepped down from the board in August 2016 amid reports he had been shut out of board meetings due to his
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
on self-driving cars. Drummond also sat on the board of
Crisis Text Line Crisis Text Line is a global not-for-profit organization providing free mental health texting service through confidential crisis intervention via SMS message. The organization's services are available 24 hours a day, every day, throughout the Un ...
, a not-for-profit organization, from 2012 to 2018. In 2014, Drummond was appointed a board member at
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...
, where he sat on its conflicts committee. His compensation from Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., was
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
47,282,232 in 2018, US$664,252 in 2017, and US$664,387 in 2016. Drummond is an investor and advisor to the media company '' Ozy''. On January 10, 2020, it was announced that Drummond would leave Alphabet to retire, effective January 31, 2020, following scrutiny for potentially inappropriate relationships. He will not receive an exit package. In the months leading up to his announcement, Drummond sold off over $200 million of his Alphabet stock.


Personal life

Drummond has a son born in 2007 during an extramarital affair with Jennifer Blakely, at the time a Google employee in the department he oversaw. Drummond's relationship with Blakely was detailed in a 2018 ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' exposé on sexual misconduct by executives at Google. Drummond married Corinne Dixon, an employee in Google's legal department, around September 2019. Alphabet's board of directors, including Drummond, were sued by shareholders in January 2019 for allegedly covering up the sexual misconduct by executives. The board formed an independent committee and hired a law firm to investigate how executives handled the claims. David's elder brother is jazz bassist
Ray Drummond Ray Drummond (born November 23, 1946 in Brookline, Massachusetts) is an American jazz bassist and teacher. He also has an MBA from Stanford University, hence his linkage to the Stanford Jazz Workshop. He can be heard on hundreds of albums and co- ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drummond, David Living people Stanford Law School alumni African-American business executives American business executives American computer businesspeople Google employees Santa Clara University alumni California lawyers 1963 births 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people