Shortly after Google’s public policy chief, Karan Bhatia, joined the company in 2018, he launched a major overhaul of his sprawling department, with the goal of grouping staffers around policy issues and along business lines, rather than by geographic location. The restructured team likely now has its hands full: Since last year, the search giant has been bombarded with regulators’ inquiries as authorities in the U.S. and overseas question the company’s behavior toward consumers and competitors.
Until Bhatia, a former General Electric executive, arrived on the scene, Google had operated for a long time without a permanent leader for the roughly 250-person department. The company also went for more than a year without a chief lobbyist in Washington. The organizational chart shows the nearly two dozen people, both new arrivals and company veterans, who will be calling the shots as the regulatory pressures mount.