Lila Ibrahim

American computer scientist
Lila Ibrahim
Ibrahim at Purdue University in 2007
EducationElectronic and Electrical Engineering, 1993
Alma materPurdue University
EmployerGoogle DeepMind

Lila Ibrahim is the Chief Operating Officer of Google DeepMind, co-founder and chair of Team4Tech, and a former member of the UK AI Council.[1] Her previous roles include Chief Operations Officer at Coursera, Senior Operating Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Chief of Staff to Intel CEO and Chairman Craig Barrett.[2]

Early life and education

Ibrahim studied electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, and has served on their board of advisors.[3] She earned her bachelor's degree in 1993.[4] She was a member of the sorority Phi Sigma Rho.[5]

Career

Ibrahim started her working life in 1993 at Intel, where she was as an engineer on the Pentium processor.[6] During 18 years at Intel she held various technical, marketing, and leadership positions, including serving as Chief of Staff for Craig Barrett. Her work included leading the Digital Village initiative which delivered education and e-governance from the Amazon to Africa,[6] leading Intel's Developer Forum, leading the Emerging Market group based in China developing the classmatePC business, and establishing DVD standards for PCs.[4] In 2000, she took a two-month sabbatical to build a computer lab in the Lebanese orphanage her father grew up in.[7] She took her experience back to Intel, where she built technology for K-12 education.[7] Working on a national initiative with Portugal, she delivered 400,000 computers and trained 30,000 teachers in one year.[8]

She sat on the Global Council of Thunderbird School of Global Management.[4] As part of an Aspen Institute fellowship in the early 2010s, she worked with Julie Clugage to create Team4Tech, a program which partners volunteers with educational projects in the developing world.[7][2]

Ibrahim was appointed Chief of Staff at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2010. Through Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers she began to work with Coursera. Ibrahim was made President of Coursera in 2013, later Chief Business and Operating Officer, and remained there until 2017.[9][2] During this time she was appointed to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce's National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.[10][11] From 2015 to 2019, she was on the board of the American news corporation Gannett.[12] She was a keynote speaker at the 2016 Pioneer Summit, and the 2017 South by Southwest conference in Austin.[13][14]

In April 2018 Ibrahim was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Google DeepMind,[15][16] where she is responsible for managing the company's growth.[17] She continues to mentor young entrepreneurs.[18] Ibrahim is an advocate for increasing women's representation in technology.[19] In 2021, she was appointed to the UK AI council.[1]

Accolades

In 2007, Ibrahim was recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader.[20] In 2009, she was featured on the cover of ForbesWoman for her role promoting women in technology.[5] In 2010, she was awarded the Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Award for Social Impact,[6][21] and was appointed Purdue University's Outstanding Electrical & Computer Engineer.[8] She was further recognised by the Aspen Institute as a Crown Fellow in 2011 and a Braddock Scholar in 2012.[3]

In 2019, Ibrahim was named to UK Business Insider's lists including Most Influential Leaders Shaping Business Tech (#13) [22] and the Most Interesting & Impactful Women in Tech (#5).[23] In 2023, she was included on Time's list of 100 Most Influential People in AI. [24]

References

  1. ^ a b "UK AI Council Membership". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  2. ^ a b c "Welcoming Lila Ibrahim to Coursera". Coursera Blog. 2013-08-20. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  3. ^ a b "User Profile - AGLN - Aspen Global Leadership Network". AGLN - Aspen Global Leadership Network. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  4. ^ a b c "Ms. Lila Ibrahim Liebat". Electrical and Computer Engineering - Purdue University. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  5. ^ a b "Lila Ibrahim | Phi Sigma Rho". www.phisigmarho.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-29. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  6. ^ a b c "Lila Ibrahim - AnitaB.org". AnitaB.org. 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  7. ^ a b c "The Story of Team4Tech". Team4Tech. December 2012. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  8. ^ a b "Team | Team4Tech™". www.team4tech.org. Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  9. ^ "Coursera has ousted several senior executives along with many rank-and-file staffers". Recode. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  10. ^ "U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker Announces New Members to Serve on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship". Department of Commerce. 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  11. ^ "Lila Ibrahim - National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) Board (2014-16) | U.S. Economic Development Administration". www.eda.gov. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  12. ^ "2021 DEA: Lila Ibrahim". Purdue University: College of Engineering. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  13. ^ "SXSW 2017 Schedule". schedule.sxsw.com. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  14. ^ "Lila Ibrahim, Chief Business Officer of Coursera, to Speak at GSV Pioneer Summit". Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  15. ^ "Exclusive: DeepMind hires Lila Ibrahim as first COO". Axios. 11 April 2018. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  16. ^ "DeepMind Hires Lila Ibrahim as First Chief Operating Officer". Bloomberg.com. 2018-04-11. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  17. ^ "Taking DeepMind to the next level: welcoming Lila Ibrahim as our first Chief Operating Officer | DeepMind". DeepMind. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  18. ^ University, Carnegie Mellon. "Meet the Mentors - Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  19. ^ "Do This the Next Time You Notice Sexism at Work". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  20. ^ "Lila Ibrahim". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  21. ^ AnitaB_org (2010-05-13), Lila Ibrahim 2010 Women of Vision Award Winner for Social Impact, retrieved 2018-04-25
  22. ^ "UK Tech 100: The 100 most influential people shaping British technology in 2019". Business Insider.
  23. ^ "UK Tech 100: The 30 most important, interesting, and impactful women shaping British technology in 2019".
  24. ^ "Lila Ibrahim, Mustafa Suleyman Among TIME 100 Most Influential People in AI". ummid.com. 2023-09-07. Retrieved 2023-10-21.