Google head of philanthropy Brown leaves to advise startups

Google Inc.’s head of philanthropy, Shona Brown, is leaving after almost a decade at the company to advise nonprofits and startups.

Brown will continue to serve as an informal adviser to Google.org, the philanthropy arm of the operator of the most popular search engine. Vice President Matthew Stepka will take on the day-to-day leadership and Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette will have a “more engaged role,” Brown said in a blog posting.

“While sad to leave, it has been a terrific ride,” Brown wrote. “From our early days, Google has pledged to use technology to tackle big problems, and we continue to deliver on that promise today.”

Google is losing another high-level female executive after Marissa Mayer, who stepped down in July as vice president of local, maps and location services to become chief executive officer of rival Yahoo! Inc. Brown arrived at Google in 2003 and was senior vice president of business operations before taking on the job at Google.org in 2011.

Mountain View, California-based Google fell less than 1 percent to $701.96 at the close in New York. The shares have climbed 8.7 percent this year.