Douglas Merrill (pictured), Google VP of Engineering, is leaving Google to become EMI Music's new President of Digital. Merrill joined Google late in 2003 as Senior Director of Information Systems. In this capacity he led multiple strategic efforts including Google’s 2004 IPO and its related regulatory activities. He holds direct line accountability for all internal engineering and support worldwide.

Merrill, who holds a BA from the University of Tulsa in Social and Political Organization, and an MA and Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University, has no direct prior experience of the music industry. Before Google, he was was senior vice president at Charles Schwab and Co., Inc, a multinational financial services company. At Schwab, he was responsible for such functions as information security, common infrastructure, and human resources strategy and operations.

Prior to his tenure there, Merrill worked at Price Waterhouse as a senior manager, ultimately becoming a leader in security implementation practices. Before that, he was an information scientist at the RAND Corporation, where he studied topics such as computer simulation in education, team dynamics and organizational effectiveness. He is a Sex Pistols fan, and lists Nine Inch Nails and Mary-Chapin Carpenter among his favorite performers on his blog, where he also writes: