Meet America's New Chief Technology Officer, An Openly Gay Google Exec

Last week, President Obama named Google executive Megan Smith as the White House's new Chief Technology Officer. As CTO, Smith will oversee IT policies and initiatives across every sector of the economy.


Smith brings a particularly interesting viewpoint to this role as an openly gay woman, which she highlights in a new video for MAKERS, a website that specializes in documenting successful women's stories.


Before moving to Google in 2003, Smith served as COO, and later CEO, of Planet Out, an online LGBT community. "When you're gay, you come out every day because everyone assumes you're straight," she says in the video. "But you have to be yourself."

Smith also hopes to open up the tech industry to more women, as well as to encourage girls to pursue careers in science and engineering.

You can watch the full video below.