Google Exec Joins Robinhood as First Chief Product Officer

Google executive Aparna Chennapragada has been appointed Chief Product Officer at no-fee brokerage firm Robinhood. The millennium-geared app is not filling a vacant spot though, as the Indian-origin tech veteran is the first CPO to be appointed at Robinhood.

Ms. Chennapragada’s experience with the tech giant will come in handy with her new position, according to Vlad Tenev, the CEO and co-founder of Robinhood. He also said that Aparna’s new duties will focus on making the financial markets accessible to millions more people through the company’s suite of products.

Aparna has been a leader at Google for nearly 13 years and has served most recently as vice president, where she oversees product management for new product areas in augmented reality. Prior to that, she was a Senior Director and Technical Assistant to Google CEO, tasked with various company-wide product efforts and strategy reviews.

Chennapragada kicked off her career with the internet giant back in 2008, having joined a team to develop algorithmic features for YouTube and Google News.

Besides her leading roles at Google, she also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Capital One, which offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services.

Overall, Aparna brings more than 22 years’ experience across various industries, combined with a deep understanding of technology, information, artificial intelligence, and customer experience.

“When I met Aparna, I was immediately struck by her passion for our product and delivering exceptional value to our customers. The vision for what Robinhood could do for the world became even clearer. I look forward to learning from Aparna as we build delightful product experiences and work towards democratizing finance for all,” said Vlad Tenev.

The new CPO also spoke on the matter, outlining her belief in Robinhood to impact the financial sector.

“Robinhood has built a uniquely accessible product that has opened up the financial markets to millions of people. I spent my career at Google building products that help billions of people in their everyday lives. So I couldn’t be more excited to join Robinhood and help more people build their financial future and personal wealth,” said Aparna Chennapragada, incoming CPO of Robinhood.

Even as the pandemic slowed, or completely halted hiring elsewhere, the commission-free investment platform has been expanding the team of registered financial representatives. Explaining the rationale behind that, Robinhood said it is moving forward with adding new employees in order to reduce response times, as well as to fill the void across engineering, product, operations, design, research, marketing, compliance and other key functions.

Source: Read Full Article