Jennifer Thorsen Cooper ’92 is a Global Solutions Lead at Google responsible for the Google Marketing Platform. Jennifer’s role is to understand the needs of Google sellers and be their advocate to the product management and engineering teams, and to deliver back to sellers the right resources, at scale, in order to make our products easier to sell.
Jennifer’s career started in fashion having attended SUNY’s FIT. After working for a children’s apparel company for a year she realized life had more to offer, and a career in fashion was not the right fit. Concurrently, she was approached by a recruiter who had received a copy of her resume and reached out about a role at The New York Times. The New York Times on the Web was in the beginning stages of establishing an online version of their paper, and given Jennifer’s HTML experience, they asked her to join the team as their first Ad Production Coordinator. On January 22, 1996, she helped make history in launching the first digital newspaper, The New York Times on the Web.
Over a decade of impressive success leading company-wide Ad Operations at NYTimes, Organic Media and Viewpoint led Jennifer to DoubleClick in 2003 where she took on the role of Senior Account Manager for their platform business. She was fortunate enough to be a part of DoubleClick when they were acquired by Google in 2008, and can now say she’s technically been “Googler” for 15 years with an outstanding track record in strategic selling and account management.
How did your high school experience at Kellenberg shape who you are today?
Kellenberg helped shape me in so many ways. The teachers and school provided us with a psychologically safe environment to develop the skills and confidence to become independent thinkers. They introduced me to diversity through meeting and becoming lifelong friends with fellow students from different racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic backgrounds.
Volleyball was a big part of my school life and taught me about teamwork, communication, and to never stop working your hardest. Being a part of that amazing team for three years not only made me a better player, but made me a better person.
What do you enjoy most about your job at Google?
Transitioning from a regional sales executive role to a global solutions role, I was extremely excited to travel to our Google offices around the world. Approaching the first anniversary in this role, I have been fortunate enough to travel to Sydney, Singapore, Dublin and England to help launch and scale new programs aimed to help our sellers educate and grow their clients’ businesses.
Do you have any advice for young alumni and students who are interested in pursuing a career at a major tech company such as Google?
Yes, be well rounded and explore, explore, explore. As mentioned in the intro, I didn’t start my career even thinking about Google, but trusting in myself, being confident in my role-related knowledge, I accepted jobs that challenged me in new ways and enable me to learn new things. The tech industry is constantly evolving and changing, and is almost unrecognizable from when I started my first role 23 years ago. I was never an avid reader, but I learned in business, you have to read lots of different things and listen to a lot of different points of view in order to make an educated decision about where you want your career to go. You may stumble, you may fall, but that’s not what’s matters… what matters is how you pick yourself up and learn and move on from that moment.
Who was your favorite teacher/class, moderator/club, or coach/team from your time as a student here, and why?
If you know me, then you already know my answer: Mrs. Catherine von Schoenermarck (Bro. Kenneth, for 12th grade morality & religion is a close 2nd). Coach Hughes, Miss Hughes, Mrs. Von Schoenermarck, Coach Von; to me she has so many names, but hearing any number of them, I feel blessed. Besides the fact that she made teaching 11th grade English of Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales riveting, she is an amazing volleyball player, coach, mentor, and working mom. She taught me how to win with class but more importantly how to hold your head up high and be able to accept defeat gracefully. She was tough, and always expected us to bring 110% and we did because she truly believed in us and pushed us to be our very best. I admire, appreciate and value Coach Von’s work ethic and integrity. My HS Volleyball years were some of the best years of my life and for that I am forever grateful.