Dr. Shona Brown , BEng / 87

Shona Brown has served as Google’s VP of Business Operations since September 2003, following almost a decade consulting with technology clients in Toronto and Los Angeles for McKinsey and Company.

In addition to her Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering degree from Carleton, Brown also earned a master’s degree in Economics and Philosophy from Oxford University (as a Rhodes Scholar). She received her Ph.D. and Post-Doctorate from Stanford University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management

Brown has taught in the Dept. of Industrial Engineering and Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and within McKinsey’s mini-MBA program. She is the author of the best-selling business book, “Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos,” which introduced a new strategic model for competing in volatile markets. She has published broadly in both applied and academic journals.

In 2009, she received the A.D. Dunton Alumni Award of Distinction—Carleton’s highest alumni honour in recognition of outstanding achievement or contribution in any field of endeavour.