Diane Greene
Born 1955 · Age 70
American technology entrepreneur and executive; co‑founder and long‑time CEO of VMware, former CEO of Google Cloud, board director and advisor across major tech and nonprofit organizations.
Compare Your Trajectory
See how your career milestones stack up against Diane Greene and other industry leaders.
Life & Career Timeline
Born in Annapolis, Maryland
Diane B. Greene was born in Annapolis, Maryland to an engineer and a teacher.
Early sailing and crabbing influence
Grew up crabber and sailor in Maryland; childhood activities shaped her early life (no exact date; lifelong skill and interest).
Ran first Windsurfing World Championship
At age 19 Greene organized and ran the first Windsurfing World Championship.
BS in Mechanical Engineering, University of Vermont
Graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Vermont.
Won national women's dinghy championship
Greene won the national women's dinghy championship (sailing).
Worked as a naval architect / Windsurfing International engineering lead
Early career designing ocean‑going vessels and offshore structures; ran engineering for Windsurfing International.
MArch (Naval Architecture), MIT
Completed a master's degree in Naval Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Started MS in Computer Science at UC Berkeley
Attended UC Berkeley for a master's degree in Computer Science; met future husband Mendel Rosenblum there.
Met Mendel Rosenblum (future co‑founder and spouse)
Met Mendel Rosenblum while studying at UC Berkeley; later co‑founded VMware and married.
MS in Computer Science, UC Berkeley
Completed a master's degree in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.
Transition to tech industry; engineering/management roles
Worked as engineer and manager at Sybase, Tandem Computers, and Silicon Graphics (SGI).
Co‑founded VXtreme (approximate)
Co‑founded multimedia streaming company VXtreme and served as CEO (founding year approximate; company sold in late 1990s).
VXtreme acquired by Microsoft
Microsoft acquired VXtreme; technology became the basis for Microsoft's media/movie player. Reported acquisition amount: $75 million.
Co‑founded VMware
Founded VMware with Mendel Rosenblum, Scott Devine, Edward Wang, and Edouard Bugnion; Greene served as CEO.
VMware product milestones — mainstream virtualization
Under Greene's leadership VMware introduced desktop and server x86 virtualization products that created the mainstream virtualization market (late 1990s product launches).
EMC acquires VMware (subsidiary arrangement)
EMC Corporation acquired VMware for $635 million; VMware continued to operate as a branded subsidiary with Greene as CEO.
VMware reaches $2B run rate (post‑EMC)
Under EMC ownership and Greene's leadership, VMware achieved a $2 billion run rate for revenue.
Named one of Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women
Fortune included Diane Greene on its list of America's 50 Most Powerful Women.
VMware IPO — $19.1B valuation
VMware went public in 2007 with a valuation of approximately $19.1 billion; largest tech IPO of 2007.
Ousted as VMware CEO
On July 8, 2008, Diane Greene was fired as president and CEO of VMware and replaced by Paul Maritz; she declined an offered alternate role.
IEEE Computer Society Computer Entrepreneur Award
Greene and Mendel Rosenblum received the IEEE Computer Society's Computer Entrepreneur Award for creating a virtualization platform.
Appointed to Google Board of Directors
On January 12, 2012, Diane Greene joined Google's board of directors (Alphabet's board seat).
Judge for Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
Served as a judge for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.
Spoke at Y Combinator Startup School
Delivered a talk at Y Combinator's Startup School about founding and scaling companies.
Built Google's first enterprise‑capable cloud business
As CEO of Google Cloud, Greene organized and scaled Google's enterprise cloud go‑to‑market team and product efforts.
Named CEO of Google Cloud
Following Google's acquisition of Bebop, Diane Greene was appointed CEO of Google Cloud (announced November 2015). She was tasked with building Google's enterprise cloud business.
Google acquires Bebop (Greene's startup) — reported $380M
Google acquired Diane Greene's startup Bebop; later reporting indicated Google paid about $380 million for Bebop.
Ranked #1 of powerful female engineers (Business Insider / Berkeley mention)
Recognized by Business Insider/UC Berkeley coverage as a top influential female engineer.
Abie Award for Technical Leadership (AnitaB.org)
Received the Abie Award for Technical Leadership from the Anita Borg Institute.
Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Vermont
Received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Vermont.
Listed on Bloomberg's 50 influential people
Included in Bloomberg's 50 list of the world's most influential people.
Named one of America's Top 50 Women in Tech (Forbes)
Forbes included Diane Greene among America's Top 50 Women in Tech for 2018.
Elected to US National Academy of Engineering
Elected as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering for contributions to virtualization technology.
Thomas Kurian named successor; Greene set to step down
November 2018 reports announced Thomas Kurian would replace Diane Greene as CEO of Google Cloud; reports indicated executive tensions.
Stepped down as CEO of Google Cloud
Diane Greene stepped down from her role as CEO of Google Cloud; she had created Google's first enterprise‑capable business unit during her tenure.
Left Alphabet/Google board
Retained a seat on Alphabet's board after stepping down from Google Cloud, then left the board in June 2019.
Google Cloud reaches $8B annualized revenue
A few months after Greene's departure, Google reported that its cloud unit had reached $8 billion in annualized revenue (reported July 2019).
Served on multiple corporate and nonprofit boards
Has served as a board member of Intuit, Khan Academy, SAP, Stripe, A.P. Moller - Maersk, and Wix.com (dates vary by organization).
Reported donation of Bebop proceeds (~$148M)
Reporting in 2020 indicated Diane Greene was donating her roughly $148M share from Google's acquisition of Bebop; the acquisition price was reported as $380M.
Elected Chair of the MIT Corporation
In August 2020 Diane Greene was elected chair of the MIT board of directors (the MIT Corporation).
Profiled as Chair Emerita and ongoing advisor (ongoing roles)
Recognized by Computer History Museum and other institutions as founder of VMware and chair emerita of MIT Corporation and active advisor to tech companies.
Public speaking & mentorship (ongoing)
Continues to speak at conferences (e.g., Pilot/Founder Tactics keynote 2024) and advises startups and founders including Stripe leadership.
Mentioned in various alumni spotlights and rankings
Featured in university and industry alumni spotlights and recognized among powerful engineers and leaders (UC Berkeley, Bloomberg, Business Insider references).
Key Achievement Ages
Explore what Diane Greene and others achieved at these notable ages:
Similar Trajectories
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Born 1960 · Age 65
Lebanese–American essayist, mathematical statistician, former derivatives/options trader, risk analyst and author of the Incerto (including The Black Swan and Antifragile). Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at NYU Tandon and scientific adviser to Universa Investments.
Anders Hejlsberg
Born 1960 · Age 65
Danish software engineer; original author of Turbo Pascal, chief architect of Delphi, lead architect of C#, and core developer on TypeScript. Microsoft Technical Fellow and influential language designer.
Reed Hastings
Born 1960 · Age 65
American entrepreneur, co-founder and long-time CEO of Netflix, education philanthropist and pro-charter-schools advocate.
Dan Lyons
Born 1960 · Age 65
American writer, journalist and author (aka 'Fake Steve Jobs'); former senior editor at Forbes; editor of ReadWrite; HubSpot employee; author of fiction and nonfiction books; writer and co-producer on HBO's Silicon Valley.
Tim Cook
Born 1960 · Age 65
American business executive; joined Apple in 1998 and has served as CEO since August 24, 2011. Known for supply-chain mastery, advocacy on privacy/environment/LGBT issues, and leading Apple to multi‑trillion dollar valuations.
Tony Robbins
Born 1960 · Age 65
American author, coach and motivational speaker known for seminars and self-help books including Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.