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Former Starbucks CIO & Symantec COO Joins (Google) X

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by Peter High, published on Forbes

3-11-2016

We Solve for X, a part of X (formerly Google X), brings together a community of moonshot thinkers to collaborate on new ideas that could solve big global problems. The latest of those thinkers is Stephen Gillett, former CIO and GM of Digital Ventures at Starbucks and COO of Symantec. I recently wrote about Stephen Gillett’s move to become Executive-in-Residence at GV (Google Ventures). That position, which was designed as a temporary role has been expanded as Gillett and Google determined there was longer-term fit.

We Solve for X is a moonshot factory with a mission to invent and launch technologies that could someday make the world a radically better place. Perhaps the most famous of these moonshot ideas is the self-driving car.

The organization aims to provide radical solutions and breakthrough technology to solve huge problems

A spokesman for We Solve for X noted, “A maven across many industries, Stephen is a natural fit for the X moonshot factory. We’re fortunate to have him join the team.”

Gillett said, “I am extremely proud and excited joing the team at X.” Not yet 40 years old, Gillett has already had a fuller set of career experiences than most people twice his age, having become a CIO at Starbucks at the age of 31. He joined the board of Symantec soon thereafter. He joined that company full-time as COO after a brief stint as President of Digital, Marketing & Operations at Best Buy. As of a year ago, Gillett is also a member of the board of Chipotle. 

To read the full article, please visit Forbes