Rahul Sharma has been appointed Managing Director of Public Sector business for Google Cloud in the Asia Pacific region. Based in Singapore, Sharma's role will involve leading the strategy and execution of Google Cloud's partnerships with government and educational organisations, focusing on enhancing their digital roadmaps. This key appointment underlines Google Cloud's dedication to assisting public sector entities in streamlining operations, improving cybersecurity, and delivering digital services centred around citizens, all assisted by the power of Cloud and AI.
"The industry at large is at a pivotal moment with AI, and we're delivering the benefits of AI to our government, healthcare and education communities not just with our best-in-class technology, but also our experience supporting skilling initiatives at scale," said Karan Bajwa, Vice President of Google Cloud in Asia Pacific. He further expanded on this new appointment saying, "With Rahul at the helm of our Public Sector organisation, we look forward to driving even more transformation technology partnerships with regional governments, and helping them advance their digital roadmaps."
Sharma enters this role with almost three decades of experience, having previously held regional leadership roles at Amazon Web Services Public Sector business for Asia Pacific and AWS India, as well as IBM. His background includes advocating technology for good, leading industry organisations, and serving on NASSCOM's Executive Council from 2019 to 2023. During this term, he spearheaded the development of the National COVID response platform and initiatives to upskill the Indian IT workforce. Sharma also chaired the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) IT & ITES Council from 2022 to 2023.
Sharma expressed his enthusiasm regarding his new role: "Google Cloud has been a force for change in tech-enabled public sector progress across Asia Pacific, with clear and unique differentiators across infrastructure, data, AI, security, communication and collaboration. These are critical elements to any public sector organisation's ability to digitalise its operations. I’m excited to join the team and bring the Google magic to help governments meet their mission."
As Managing Director, Sharma will oversee a team tasked with solving complex problems for government, healthcare, and educational institutions and aiding in their digital transformation through Google Cloud's leading data analytics and AI services, cybersecurity solutions, and Google Workspace tools.
Before joining Google Cloud, Sharma spent more than 20 years at IBM in various roles, including leading the Global Business Services (GBS) for India and South Asia, and running IBM’s GBS Distribution Sector across Asia Pacific. In addition to this, he led Amazon Web Services Public Sector business in the region and served as President of their Public Sector division in India.