1 week Ago By Paul Thurrott
Sonos announced today that former Google executive Hugo Barra has joined the company’s Board of Directors. He replaces Mike Volpi, a venture capitalist, on the Sonos board “Hugo is a world-class technologist with senior executive experience at several of the most important and successful consumer tech companies,” . “He has a proven ability to turn cutting-edge innovation into great products – a great fit for Sonos.
With his deep expertise, including in AI, we’re excited to have him on the Board, engaging with the leadership team and adding value.” Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift! Hugo Barra was a fixture at Google Android events between 2010 and 2013, and I associate him clearly with the Nexus 7 tablets.
After Google, he joined Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi. He left that company in 2017, joining Facebook to lead its Oculus VR division, before moving on to a health startup called Detect in 2021. He’s still affiliated with Detect today, but he also co-founded and leads product development at , an AI agent software company.
It’s not clear what led to Volpi’s departure or Barra’s appointment, but at the moment and can use all the industry expertise it can get. Maybe Barra can . Paul Thurrott is an award-winning technology journalist and blogger with 30 years of industry experience and the author of 30 books.
He is the owner of and the host of three tech podcasts: with Leo Laporte and Richard Campbell, , and with Brad Sams. He was formerly the senior technology analyst at Windows IT Pro and the creator of the SuperSite for Windows from 1999 to 2014 and the Major Domo of Thurrott.com while at BWW Media Group from 2015 to 2023.
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