Alphabet names Nobel Prize winner Frances Arnold to board

Arnold, a professor at California Institute of Technology, won the 2018 Nobel prize in chemistry for her work developing the first proteins that can catalyze chemical reactions.

Alphabet adds Nobel-Prize winning chemist Arnold to board (REUTERS)

Alphabet Inc. named Frances Arnold, a Nobel-prize winning chemist, to its board, bringing the internet giant's total number of female directors to three.

Arnold, a professor at California Institute of Technology, won the 2018 Nobel prize in chemistry for her work developing the first proteins that can catalyze chemical reactions -- making it more environmentally friendly to develop new drugs and produce renewable energy, according to the Nobel Foundation.

Earlier this year, Robin Washington, outgoing chief financial officer of Gilead Sciences Inc., joined the Alphabet board as longtime chairman Eric Schmidt and former Google Cloud chief Diane Greene announced plans to step down. Ann Mather, the former CFO of Pixar, joined the board in 2005.

 

I'm thrilled to welcome @francesarnold to the Alphabet Board of Directors. Frances brings incredible academic and industry expertise with a career spanning chemistry, engineering, renewable energy and more -- and a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Looking forward to working with her!

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) December 9, 2019

Earlier this month, Alphabet founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave up their formal executive titles and named Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai as head of Alphabet as well. Page and Brin remain on the board.

"Frances brings incredible academic and industry expertise with a career spanning chemistry, engineering, renewable energy and more -- and a Nobel Prize in Chemistry," Pichai said Monday on Twitter. "Looking forward to working with her!"