Maria Fernandez Guajardo is a product executive and entrepreneur with extensive general management experience and robust technical background. Track record of conceiving, designing, delivering, and marketing innovative and successful B2B and consumer products for emerging technologies (generative AI, virtual reality, computer vision, genomics, and more.) Experience building small teams from the ground up, as well as leading large teams within large organizations.

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Currently, as Google's Senior Director of Product Management, she leads the Gmail product team, for both consumers and paid business users. Under her leadership, the team introduced generative AI products to Gmail, aiming to improve people’s communication with the aid of language models.

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Prior to Google, Maria was at Meta, leading product management for Facebook's video and audio offerings, including Reels, Watch, Live, and Podcasts. She also envisioned, funded, and led metaverse applications for work through “Oculus for Business” and led a new team to introduce advanced virtual reality technologies to market. 

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In her previous roles, Maria was the Vice President of Product at Clear Labs, focusing on food genomics, and at RetailNext, where the emphasis was on computer vision-based retail analytics. She also had roles in technology, marketing, and business at Texas Instruments, working in their mobile application processors division in both France and the US. Maria started her career as a silicon engineer at Cadence Design Systems.

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Beyond her primary roles, she has also been part of the board of directors of Ignited Education, a non-profit focused on STEM education initiatives. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics from the University of Zaragoza in Spain and the Enssat in Lannion, France.

 

She has been recognized for her contributions in tech, being named a top Latinx tech professional by CNET. Additionally, the Silicon Valley Business Journal honored her as a Woman of Influence and a '40 Under 40' honoree.