Google Picks Bell Canada Exec To Be CFO

Google on Wednesday named Bell Canada executive Patrick Pichette at its chief financial officer.

Pichette, most recently president of operations at Bell Canada, replaces George Reyes, who plans to retire. Pichette is scheduled to assume responsibility for Google's financial operations Aug. 12. He will report to Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google.

"Patrick brings the expertise and track record of a successful CFO, along with the hands-on business experience of a seasoned operations executive," Schmidt said in a statement. "This strong combination of skills and experience will be an important addition to Google's executive management team and will support our ongoing efforts to increase value for our users, advertisers, and partners."

Pichette has nearly 20 years of experience in financial operations and management in the telecommunications sector. He joined Bell Canada in 2001 and held various executive positions, including CFO in 2002 and 2003. Pichette was instrumental in managing the migration of Bell Canada's network to a national IP-based infrastructure, according to Google.

Before joining Bell Canada, Pichette was a partner at McKinsey & Co., where he led the firm's North American telecom practice. Pichette also served as VP and CFO of Call-Net Enterprises, a Canadian telecommunications company from 1994 to 1996.

Reyes announced in August 2007 that he would step down after assisting in a search for a replacement. The executive characterized his five and a half years at Google as "an extraordinary ride."

Reyes joined Google as CFO in 2002. Previously, he served as interim CFO of optical networking company ONI Systems, which was acquired by Ciena. Before that, Reyes worked at Sun Microsystems for 13 years.