Eric Schenk
Managing Director, Applied Innovation, Office of the CTO, Google Cloud
Eric Schenk is managing director in the office of the CTO (OCTO) at Google Cloud. A seasoned executive with more than 30 years experience in the software industry, he serves a community of peers in the office of the CTO where he helps drive collaborations that lead to breakthrough disruptions. His personal interests lie in helping key cloud customers discover new business possibilities through new technologies; sharing engineering and development methodologies, culture and tools; and disseminating emerging technologies that can enable new capabilities. He is also keenly interested in the potential for computing technologies to amplify human productivity.
Prior to joining Google in 2017, Eric was the founding GM of the Lumberyard Game Engine team at Amazon. Eric arrived at Amazon from Electronic Arts (EA), where he progressed from research scientist to senior director of tools and technology. At EA he patented foundational concepts that are still used in GPU hardware today, and was active in cross-industry standards efforts. As a manager and technology leader he led the teams that created key graphics, animation, physics and audio technologies that are still showcased in games like FIFA, Madden and Battlefield today.
Earlier in his career, Eric was an active researcher in the theory of distributed computing, an early co-maintainer of the Linux kernel networking code, and a visiting professor of computer science at Lund University in Sweden. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in computer science from the University of Calgary and a Ph.D. in theory of distributed computing from the University of Toronto.
In his spare time, Eric is an avid cyclist, plays and builds classical guitars, and has taught Aikido for over 25 years. He also enjoys cooking for his family.