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  Photo courtesy of Reuters
  Marissa Mayer

Google's Marissa Mayer was appointed as Yahoo's new chief executive officer and member of the board of directors by the company yesterday.

"The appointment of Ms. Mayer, a leading consumer internet executive, signals a renewed focus on product innovation to drive user experience and advertising revenue for the world's largest consumer internet brands, whose leading properties include Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Mobile, Yahoo! Mail, and Yahoo! Search," said Yahoo in the press release.

Mayer, 37, has a track record of success with Google being responsible for features such as Local, Maps, and other Location Services. She hopes to bring this same innovation with her to Yahoo!

"I am honored and delighted to lead Yahoo!, one of the internet's premier destinations for more than 700 million users," said Mayer in a statement. "I look forward to working with the company's dedicated employees to bring innovative products, content, and personalized experiences to users and advertisers all around the world."

Google hired Mayer back in 1999 as employee #20, and she went on to be part of developing its flagship search product and iconic homepage. She also managed some of the companies most successful innovations launching more than 100 features and products including image, book and product search, toolbar, and many more.

"Marissa is a well-known, visionary leader in user experience and product design and one of Silicon Valley's most exciting strategists in technology development," said Yahoo! co-founder David Filo. "I look forward to working with her to enhance Yahoo's product offerings for our over 700 million unique monthly visitors."

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Mayer's educational background consists of a Bachelor's of Science in Symbolic Science and an Master's degree in Computer Science which she earned at Stanford University. She specialized in artificial intelligence for both degrees and has been credited as an inventor on several patents related to that field.