Brian McClendon | |
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Personal details | |
Born | 1964 (age 59–60) |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Beth Ellyn McClendon |
Education | University of Kansas, Lawrence[1] (BS) |
Brian McClendon (born 1964) is an American software designer, developer, and engineer. He was a co-founder and angel investor in Keyhole, Inc.. Keyhole is a geospatial data visualization company that was purchased by Google in 2004.[2][3] Google bought it so they could create Google Earth. He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2015.
McClendon grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. His childhood home, Meadowbrook Apartments in Lawrence, is the default center point of Google Earth.[1] He graduated from Lawrence High School in 1982. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1986 with a degree in electrical engineering.
McClendon became a vice president at Google in 2004. This was when Google purchased Keyhole. Keyhole's main application suite, Earth Viewer, formed the basis of Google Earth.
He left Google to join Uber in June 2015. He did this to work on mapping.[4]
In March 2017, he quit Uber (though was still an adviser) to return to his hometown. He said he was interested in Kansas politics.[5]
In January 2018, he said he would run for Kansas Secretary of State as a Democrat.[6] He had no opponent in the primary election. He was selected as the Democratic candidate.[7] He was defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate Scott Schwab.[8]