Robinhood hires former Google exec Aparna Chennapragada as its first-ever chief product officer

• Robinhood said Wednesday it has named Aparna Chennapragada as its first chief product officer.
• Chennapragada previously held senior positions at Google over a 12-year period.
• The online brokerage said in a blog post she would oversee product, design and research at Robinhood.

Robinhood announced Wednesday it had appointed former Google executive Aparna Chennapragada as its first chief product officer.

A blog post by the US online brokerage revealed on Wednesday that Chennapragada would oversee product, design and research at Robinhood, which has been at the heart of the historic trading frenzy that gripped Wall Street this year.

Chennapragada, who spent 12 years at Google, was most recently the vice president for consumer shopping at Google. Before that, she was the lead for augmented reality and visual search products, as well as the technical assistant to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

"Robinhood has built a uniquely accessible product that has opened up the financial markets to millions of people," Chennapragada said in the blog post.

"I spent my career at Google building products that help billions of people in their everyday lives. So I couldn't be more excited to join Robinhood and help more people build their financial future and personal wealth."

Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev, who was famously interviewed by Elon Musk on Clubhouse about Gamestop's stock drama, said in the blog: "When I met Aparna, I was immediately struck by her passion for our product and delivering exceptional value to our customers.

"The vision for what Robinhood could do for the world became even clearer," he added.