Alexandra Ahtiainen appointed to lead Google for Edu teams across DACH, Iberia, and Israel
Google for Education has confirmed a senior leadership appointment covering DACH, Iberia, and Israel, as the company continues to align regional education strategy with AI adoption, compliance, and system-level partnerships.
Google for Education has appointed Alexandra Ahtiainen to lead its Education teams across DACH, Iberia, and Israel, expanding her responsibilities beyond her existing regional remit.
Ahtiainen shared the update in a LinkedIn post, confirming that she had taken on leadership responsibility for the additional regions. The move brings oversight of several strategically important education markets under a single senior leader at a time when schools and ministries are weighing AI adoption against regulatory and operational constraints.
Ahtiainen wrote that she had “expanded my remit at Google for Education” and was “now leading our Education teams across DACH, Iberia, and Israel.” She framed the appointment around three themes shaping her focus: AI-driven personalization and productivity, responsibility and compliance, and stronger customer community engagement.
She described AI as enabling more tailored learning experiences while also reducing workload for educators, and emphasized the need for innovation to operate within regulatory expectations. She also referenced plans to strengthen peer learning between education customers by sharing effective and ineffective practices.
Appointment follows Nordic AI and DPIA work
The leadership change follows earlier public updates from Ahtiainen highlighting Google for Education’s work with school systems in Northern Europe. In a LinkedIn post last month, she referenced a decade-long relationship with Nordic schools and linked to a Google blog outlining AI deployments in Iceland, Sweden, and Norway.
That work included pilot programs using Gemini for Education and NotebookLM, as well as a nationally coordinated Data Protection Impact Assessment in Norway conducted with KS. The approach was positioned as a way to reduce duplicated compliance work across municipalities while enabling system-wide use of Google Workspace for Education.
For schools, districts, and education authorities, Ahtiainen’s expanded leadership remit signals a continued emphasis on regional consistency in how AI tools are introduced, approved, and supported. It also reflects how large vendors are aligning leadership structures to match the scale and complexity of public-sector decision-making around AI.
As Ahtiainen wrote in her LinkedIn post: “We are proving that cutting-edge innovation and strict compliance go hand-in-hand.”
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