Fiona Cicconi, Google's Chief People Officer, to Retire

Fiona Cicconi, Google’s Chief People Officer, has announced that she will be retiring at the end of Q2 2026. 

Sharing in a LinkedIn post that she had made the decision to retire in order to prioritise spending time with her family, Fiona says that the transition has been “thoughtfully underway,” for several months and plans to stay on for a short period to support the team’s transition. 

Google will reportedly name a new Chief People Officer later in 2026, but the company has made no indication as to who this will be. 

“Professionally, it is difficult to step away when things are this exciting, but personal and professional timelines rarely align perfectly,” Fiona says, sharing that she is “so proud,” of the People Operations team. 

“As I prepare to pass the baton, I want to send a massive, heartfelt thank you to my colleagues, mentors, friends and family who have made this journey what it was,” she continues. 

Four decades of HR evolution

With a career spanning four decades, Fiona has held HR leadership roles across a range of companies – including Cisco, Roche and AstraZeneca – before joining Google as its Chief People Officer in 2021. 

During that time, she says it has been “astonishing” to see “how much the HR profession has evolved,” particularly in regards to AI. 

“We've gone through periods where the function was heavily weighed down by process and administration, but today, we are on the cusp of something extraordinary,” she says. 

“Watching AI begin to fundamentally reshape how we work fills me with so much hope and excitement for the future of HR.

“Is it finally going to strip away the process work and allow teams to do what they do best: focus entirely on the human element? I truly hope so.”

Fiona has played a key role in implementing AI in daily workflows at Google – both within the HR function and outside of it – by ensuring employees have access to AI training through online courses and the company’s Googler-to-Googler initiative.

The company has transformed its people strategy to provide a stronger employee experience aligned with this ‘AI-first’ model, while integrating AI into its human resources function to boost efficiency, employee empowerment and company innovation. 

People leadership in ‘a remarkably special place’

Under her leadership, Google has received several accolades recognising its commitment to employee experience.

These include Forbes’ World’s Best Workplaces list, Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list and Comparably’s highest rated employers for perks and benefits recognition.

Fiona has led the company’s employee experience strategy towards a culture of high-performance and innovation over the course of her five year tenure – encouraging investments in employee learning and development. 

In particular, she has championed the company’s education reimbursement programme, where employees can choose a training programme, such as a computer science degree, and the company will pay for a portion of it to help staff upskill.

“I’m so grateful to have worked with many amazing companies and my time at Google has undoubtedly been the highlight of my career,” Fiona says.

“Leading this team and seeing the company transform through our hard work and change management has been the privilege of my life.

"Google is a remarkably special place, full of kind and brilliant people who are actively building the future and shaping the world as we lean into the age of AI.”