Google hires Hazelbaker as Corp-Comm head

NEW YORK: Internet search engine giant Google has named Jill Hazelbaker, the former communication chief for John McCain's presidential campaign, to head its corporate communication department, a media report said.

Attributing to Google's spokesman, The Wall Street Journal said the company has hired Hazelbaker to run corporate communication for Google.

Hazelbaker, who recently worked for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's re-election campaign, is replacing Google spokesman Matt Furman, who joined the search giant a few years ago, the report noted.

She would report to Rachel Whetstone, Google's Vice- President for public policy and communications, who herself joined Google in 2005 after a career advising senior politicians in Europe.

The report said citing people familiar with the matter that Furman is expected to leave Google to become Vice- President for corporate affairs for a multinational company and that his move was triggered by a desire to move back to the East Coast to be close to his family.