Google has announced that Nick Leeder will replace Fionnuala Meehan as the head of its Irish operation.

While its staff continue to work from home in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Google Ireland will have a new person leading the business in the coming weeks. In a statement, the tech giant said that Nick Leeder will become head of its Irish division from 1 April, replacing Fionnuala Meehan who has had the role since 2016.

Leeder joined Google in March 2011 as the managing director for Australia and New Zealand. He then took up the same role in France, before moving to Dublin in 2017 to take over as vice-president for EMEA large customer sales.

In this role, Leeder has been responsible for the delivery and expansion of Google’s relationship with some of its largest customers across EMEA. He will now continue in this role in addition to taking up the position of head of Google Ireland.

‘We are in an unprecedented moment’

Prior to working at Google, Leeder was COO of News Digital Media in Australia and deputy CEO of The Australian. Speaking about his new appointment, Leeder addressed ongoing developments surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are in an unprecedented moment, and our first priority is the welfare of all our Ireland based people – Googlers and our extended workforce – and the communities in which we live,” he said.

“We are working hard to ensure we continue to serve the billions of users who rely on us for information, and the millions of customers whose businesses we help power.”

Earlier this month, Google told more than 100,000 of its staff globally, including around 8,000 in Ireland, to work from home in response to the coronavirus pandemic. It also cancelled its major I/O event that was scheduled to take place in May and indefinitely postponed its Cloud Next event.