Can Google’s New CIO Ben Fried Fill Douglas Merrill’s Shoes?

Google’s former CIO Douglas Merrill was known as much for his rock star persona as he was for his geeky intellect, but what do we know about the new CIO Ben Fried?

Read my new story about Google’s new CIO Ben Fried to find out.

I created the following comparison (with tongue firmly in cheek) of the two CIOs:

Age

• Ben: Roughly 41
• Doug: 37

Education

• Ben: Columbia
• Doug: Princeton

Piercings

• Ben: None known to CIO
• Doug: 3 earrings, according to Men’s Health

Tattoos

• Ben: None known to CIO
• Doug: 4, according to Men’s Health

Preferred footwear

• Ben: Wingtips?
• Doug: “slip-on kicks“

Preferred Sport

• Ben: Ultimate Frisbee
• Doug: Surfing

Celebrity Doppleganger

• Ben: Craig Ferguson (Nigel Wick on The Drew Carey Show)
• Doug: Ron Livingston (Jack Berger on Sex & the City)

What do you know about Ben Fried? Do you think he can fill Merrill’s shoes? What kind of cultural challenges will he run into moving from Morgan Stanley to Google?