Google Appoints Cloud Business Leader for APAC

He succeeds Rick Harshman, who leaves the organization for a new opportunity after almost five years in the role.

Google has appointed technology leader Karan Bajwa as vice president for Google Cloud in APAC, the company announced in a statement on Tuesday.

Bajwa, who is currently based in India, where he leads Google Cloud’s operations in the country, will relocate to Singapore in 2021 for the expanded role in which he will lead all regional revenue and go-to-market operations for Google Cloud, including Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Google Workspace.

Before joining Google in March 2020, Bajwa a managing director for India and South Asia at IBM for almost four years. Prior to IBM, he worked with Microsoft for nine years, his last role being the managing director for the company’s operations in India.

Google Cloud is growing rapidly in a region that is fast adopting digital transformation tools, particularly in the financial services space. Among its clients are BRI Bank, Gojek, NTUC Fairprice Co-Operative, Goldman Sachs, Citi, ANZ Bank, and more.

The company launched its GCP regions, from where its public cloud resources are located, in Jakarta and Seoul last year, with planned expansions in Dubai and Melbourne in 2021.

«With the disruptions of 2020 behind us, a true test of 2021 will be how companies replatform and build on the cloud not only for resilience but agility and innovation, and I’m excited for the opportunity to lead Google Cloud’s business in APAC to maximize this next phase of growth,» Bajwa said about his new appointment.