Joanna Shields has had a long and impressive career in the technology industry. She has been the head of Bebo (from 2006 until it was sold to AOL in 2008), as well as a Vice President and Managing Director of Facebook in Europe, Middle East and Africa. She also held significant positions with Google. Her latest gig is as the UK Minister for Internet Safety and Security.
In this role she will be tasked with improving online security, fighting child pornography, battling internet ad fraud and much more. This is a significant role in the new UK government and one that will give her a lot of power and influence.
Given the fact that the UK (and other countries in Europe) have been pushing hard against Google and other tech companies over the past year, this may actually be good news for many tech companies. If Shields still maintains a positive image of the major tech companies she once worked for, she may be more likely to treat them in a business friendly way. Of course, it is far too early to know what she will do.
She holds citizenship in both the UK and the US as well as now being a part of the House of Lords (since last September). She is obviously quite qualified for the job and hopefully she will take positive steps to improve the business environment in the UK and else ware.
