Gabriel Stricker returns to Google to lead communications for Fiber after three years at Twitter as chief communications officer
Drew Olanoff / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Gabriel Stricker's return closes a loop that opened with his July exit from Twitter, when the company framed the departure of its comms head as part of a strategy shift. He had been one of the most prominent examples of a pattern Forbes documented in May: former Google PR staff running communications at Facebook, Twitter, Uber, and Sequoia Capital — a diaspora now flowing back.
First-order effects
- Twitter must fill a chief communications officer seat again months after the 'shift' that pushed Stricker out, while Google gains a proven comms leader for Fiber specifically rather than a general corporate role.
Second-order effects
- Stricker joins a reverse-migration alongside Jessica Verrilli's return to Twitter from Google Ventures, suggesting alumni exchanges between the two companies are becoming routine staffing channels rather than one-off hires.
Third-order effects
- Fiber keeps exporting and re-importing talent — Kevin Lo later left as Fiber GM to lead Facebook's connectivity hiring — so the unit functions as a training ground for the industry's broadband and connectivity plays regardless of its own rollout pace.
The trend: Silicon Valley communications and connectivity talent circulates through Google's alumni network, with Fiber serving as both a destination and a talent exporter.