Eileen Naughton took over the lead HR role in 2016 after her predecessor, Laszlo Bock, left. Prior to taking over for Bock, Naughton had been vice president of sales and operations for Google in the UK and Ireland.
“My husband and I have decided—after six years on the road, first in London and now San Francisco—to return home to New York to be closer to our family,” Naughton said. Naughton will remain with Google, but there is no word yet on what her role will be.
“Over the past 13 years, Eileen has made major contributions to the company in numerous areas, from media partnerships, to leading our sales and operations in the U.K. and Ireland, to leading our People Operations team through a period of significant growth—during which over 70,000 people started their careers at Google,” said Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO.
Naughton’s departure as HR head comes as Google has wrestled with a number of shakeups in its top executive ranks over the last few years. A November 2018 article from The New York Times revealed that Google awarded Andy Rubin, a former senior vice president and creator of Android software, a $90 million exit deal in 2014, after he faced sexual misconduct allegations from a colleague. This prompted about 20,000 employees to walk out in protest over how Google handled the allegation.