By MICHELLE QUINN | 7/16/12 5:23 PM EDT Updated: 7/17/12 12:32 AM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo’s choice of Marissa Mayer as its new chief executive brings a politically savvy executive to the top of the troubled online company.
Mayer, 37, is a longtime Google executive who has participated in Democratic political fundraising drives.
In 2010, she held a fundraiser at her house for President Barack Obama and has given to Obama annually since 2007.
Last year, Mayer contributed $35,800 to the Obama Victory Fund 2012.
Mayer is an active Democratic fundraiser. In 2011, she gave $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee. In 2010, she gave two donations of $30,400 to the DNC, according to Open Secrets.
She also has bundled between $100,000 and $200,000 for Obama for America and Obama Victory Fund 2012, according to the Obama campaign.
While mostly giving to Democrats, Mayer also contributed $2,500 to Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
Mayer, an engineer, is best known for the success of her products at Google, such as Gmail, Google News and most recently Google’s location services, such as Google Maps.
She takes the top job at Yahoo after a difficult leadership period for the firm. Carol Bartz, an outspoken Silicon Valley chief executive, left last September. Her replacement, Scott Thompson, was ousted after it was revealed information about his education was not accurate in his official biography.
Mayer has been one of the most visible women at Google and in the Valley since she joined the firm in 1999 to become employee No. 20. Most recently, she was tapped by Walmart to be on its board.
"Since arriving at Google just over 13 years ago as employee No. 20, Marissa has been a tireless champion of our users,” Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement. “She contributed to the development of our Search, Geo, and Local products. We will miss her talents at Google."
Mayer often speaks at trade events and recently wrote an article for BusinessWeek about how to avoid burnout.
When Obama attended a fundraiser at Mayer’s Palo Alto house in 2010, she said, "Tonight is really about camaraderie, as well as about optimism ... these are two traits that have really drawn a lot of us to the president," she said, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 5:17 p.m. on July 16, 2012.
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