Google South Africa has a new face at the top: Stafford Masie, previously Novell SA country manager, is now heading up the local operations of the internet search giant, ITWeb reported on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Masie had confirmed his resignation from software house Novell and his appointment as general manager for Google in South Africa.
Last year, Google had advertised three posts in South Africa on its jobs site. These included a country manager, vertical account manager and a multisector vertical head. Currently, the company has no available posts listed for the Africa region.
Novell SA’s marketing and channel manager, Trish Barwick, said on Friday the company is “honoured” that one of its people has been selected to open Google’s local office.
“We are sad to see him go; but very excited about what he will be doing,” she told ITWeb.
Google chairperson and CEO Eric Schmidt was recruited in 2001 by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Novell, where he had held the same positions.
Google was unavailable for comment on Friday.