Cybersecurity-CTA
Info Card - Climate and Power
Info Card - Cyber
Diane Bryant
Former Chief Operating Officer, Google Cloud, B.S. '85
UC electrical engineering alumna Diane Bryant is one of the most powerful women in tech. Most recently, she was the chief operating officer of Google’s Cloud Platform, and was previously the senior vice president and general manager of Intel Corporation’s Data Center Group, a role that landed her on Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.”
Unlike some of today’s tech leaders, Bryant’s success did not begin in an Ivy League dorm room. Instead, when Bryant was 18 years old, she was homeless. After graduating from Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks, Calif. she started free community college classes at American River College. She juggled three waitressing jobs to make ends meet.
Bryant took advantage of the transfer agreement between Sacramento area community colleges, transferring to a UC in 1983.
“The community college system is disproportionately attended by poor and minority students,” Bryant says. “More than any other institution, UC demonstrates an understanding that economic status and race are unrelated to ability and ambition.”
During the course of her nearly 35-year career in tech, Bryant has also shattered glass ceilings for women. Early in her career, she led the team responsible for the architecture, design and delivery of Intel’s Xeon processor families, which grew to more than 95 percent of the world’s servers.
Later, under Bryant’s leadership, Intel’s Data Center Group generated $19 billion in revenue, nearly half of the company’s overall earnings in 2017. Since her departure from Google Cloud last year, Bryant has been elected to Broadcom’s board of directors and continues to keep her finger on the pulse of global tech trends.
“UC stands out in their commitment to diversity,” Bryant says. “I benefited from their investment in creating a frictionless path from a community college to a prestigious university and degree in electrical engineering. I owe my career success to the UC College of Engineering.”