Jeremy L. Strickland currently serves in the role of Chief of Staff at Google. Prior to returning to Google, where Jeremy also began his career, he worked as a Sales Innovation Manager at LinkedIn and in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Prior to that, Jeremy completed the MPP / MBA degree program at Kellogg and Harvard and has also studied at Vanderbilt (undergraduate) and Stanford. 

Having worked in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade, Jeremy brings a diverse set of experiences and background to his role as Chief of Staff, making him a valuable contributor capable of advising on a wide spectrum of issues, ranging from business and product strategy to financial design to public policy.

Outside of his role at Google, Jeremy advises start-ups and is currently working w/ the leadership of Pied Parker, a quickly growing start-up in the transportation / parking sector. Outside of the office, Jeremy (and his wife Grace) compete in CrossFit competitions, loves Atlanta Braves baseball, and holds a single-digit golf handicap. 

Episode transcription:

[00:00:00] Jeremy Strickland: [00:00:00] Hi, this is Jeremy Strickland. I'm the chief of staff at Google.

[00:00:18] Jahn Karsybaev: [00:00:18] Jeremy, thanks so much for finding time. Joining us on the Ivy Podcast this Friday afternoon, April 30th. The reason I included the date is because lately I've been getting some comments around that some of the episodes appear to be maybe a little out of date or maybe not within the trends. So we started doing that. Where are you based?

[00:00:40] Jeremy Strickland: [00:00:40] Yeah. So I'm based out of San Francisco but due to COVID reasons, my wife and I have been coveting as we like to say in gross point, Michigan, which is about 20 minutes outside of Detroit.

[00:00:53] Jahn Karsybaev: [00:00:53] Oh, very cool. Well, in a completely different location, right. I want to spend some time talking about your current role within the [00:01:00] organization, but before we do that, tell us a little bit more kind of the thumbnail version of your career.

[00:01:06] Jeremy Strickland: [00:01:06] Yeah, absolutely. So I guess I'll start with my, kind of my first job undergrad. So I graduated from Vanderbelt in 2011. And then I joined Google for the first time. So I immediately came to Google as part of their new graduate program. I spent two years doing small and medium, Sales and support before transitioning to a more analyst or operational type role. I spent roughly around six months as a business analyst, before transitioning to a strategy and operations lead. This latter role was really kind of my favorite time at Google. So working on super complex projects with really high performing individuals. In total, I was at Google for about five years before I went to graduate school. I did my MBA at Kellogg and then a master's of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy school over a three-year [00:02:00] period. After that, I briefly joined LinkedIn where I was a manager on our sales innovation team before a recently returning to Google and my current role as chief of staff, which is just an ideal and perfect role.

[00:02:16] Jahn Karsybaev: [00:02:16] That's awesome. What are quite diverse backgrounds and appreciate you sharing? Tell us a little bit more about the role as a chief of staff. I understand what falls under your purview and the responsibility, especially the last few years. That role has been gaining a lot of grounds in terms of a lot of organizations racing, the specific need for that, but not a lot of people may be familiar with that. The overall concept shares a little bit more insight into the day to day responsibilities. What falls under your purview?

[00:02:49] Jeremy Strickland: [00:02:49] Yeah, absolutely. There's so much to just unpack there, but it really is a super exciting role. The first thing that I like to tell people abo