In this episode of The Pool Podcast. Christian Rasmusson chats with Marbella resident Cristina González-Pitarch (Cristina Pitarch), Managing Director for Security at Google Cloud in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Cristina shares her career journey and practical insights on leadership, cybersecurity, and building high-performing teams.What they discuss:

• Early life, competitiveness, and studies in Law and Business (ICADE), MBA at UC Berkeley
• Starting in finance, moving to Salesforce in Dublin, and rapid growth in sales
• Transition to Google: from sales to technical support leadership and transforming customer satisfaction
• Returning to Google Cloud and scaling EMEA teams during hypergrowth
• Joining Chronicle (Alphabet’s security unit) and building the EMEA business from scratch
• VirusTotal and the Google Cybersecurity Center in Málaga: origins, impact, and community outreach
• Real-world cybersecurity during COVID: supporting critical institutions
• Practical security advice for SMEs: MFA, strong passwords, employee training, VPN, phishing awareness, and basic controls
• Career advice for women and newcomers to cybersecurity: play to your strengths, technical and go-to-market paths
• Life in Marbella, family decisions post-COVID, and community needs for teenagers

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