Google veteran Karen Sauder has been named to lead Google’s expanding Chicago office.
Sauder is taking over for Jim Lecinski, who recently left Google after a 12-year career with the company to become a full-time marketing professor at Northwestern.
Sauder joined Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) in 2011 to launch the company’s Chicago-based consumer goods division, and was promoted to vice president of sales in April of this year. With the consumer goods division, Sauder worked with clients in the food, beverage and restaurant businesses.
Before her promotion to vice president, Sauder led Google’s global marketing teams to help consult customers industry on how to grow their businesses. She worked with large clients that included Apple and Microsoft.
Sauder came to Google in 2011 from FCB Global, a marketing agency in Chicago. Sauder was the executive vice president and managing director at FCB, responsible for running marketing campaigns for clients including MillerCoors, Boeing, Dow, USPS, Motorola and Kraft. She began her career at Anheuser-Busch doing sales and marketing.
In addition to her professional work, Sauder is also involved with the Chicago community. She serves on the boards of the World Business Chicago Board of Directors, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, and the Off The Street Club. According to a Google spokeswoman, Sauder is also married and has two teenage sons.
Sauder studied journalism at The University of Missouri and completed Executive Education Programs at Harvard Business School and Northwestern.
The Chicago Tribune reported in June that Google is adding more than 100,000 square feet of office space in Fulton Market. Google’s Midwest headquarters is located in the growing Fulton Market district of Chicago, along with other large companies, including Facebook and McDonalds.
According to Crain's Chicago Business, the Google office in Chicago has 900 employees, and is home to Google's only U.S. hardware lab outside of California.
