Dive Brief:
- Health insurance disruptor Oscar Health has announced the addition of former Google executive Alan Warren as its new CTO & SVP of Engineering.
- Warren was with Google for almost 12 years and was known most recently for his work as a vice president of engineering in Google's New York City office where he managed products including Google Docs and Drive.
- Warren had also also worked on the failed Google Health, which attempted to centralize personal health records but was limited by the company's lack of access to provider data--a problem he won't have at Oscar, as Re/code notes.
Dive Insight:
Warren is not only known for his engineering expertise but his ability to grow an operation--which is precisely what Oscar has set out to do with its quest to achieve one million members.
Warren saw the major expansion of Google’s New York office from 50 engineers to more than 3,000 and has a history that includes co-founding a startup in New York before he joined Google.
Much of his interest in Oscar is driven by his desire to experience that kind of growth again.
“I was starting to get itchy to get into something smaller and take another run at growing another organization like that,” he was quoted by Re/code.
It's a semi-coincidence that Warren comes from Google after Oscar has received substantial support from Google Capital and Google Ventures. According to Business Insider, he was not connected by anyone in the middle but did see their investment as an indicator that Oscar would be a good bet.
Warren's hiring follows the earlier announcement this year of several other high profile additions to Oscar's team.