Morgan Stanley CFO Ruth Porat Defects to Google

Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat is leaving the bank for a post at Google, the technology giant announced Tuesday.

Porat will join Google on May 26 and will report to the company's chief executive and co-founder, Larry Page, according to a Google news release. She will leave her post at Morgan Stanley in April and will be succeeded by current co-head of global financial institutions banking Jonathan Pruzan, Bloomberg reported according to a company memo.

Patrick Pichette, Google's current chief financial officer, announced March 10 that he would be retiring.

"We're tremendously fortunate to have found such a creative, experienced and operationally strong executive," Page said in the news release announcing Porat's addition. "I look forward to learning from Ruth as we continue to innovate in our core — from search and ads, to Android, Chrome and YouTube--as well as invest in a thoughtful, disciplined way in our next generation of big bets."

Porat is widely considered one of the most powerful women on Wall Street; last year she was No. 3 on American Banker's list of the Most Powerful Women in Finance. She began her career at Morgan Stanley in 1987, and in her nearly three decades with the bank her roles included vice chair of investment banking, global head of the Financial Institutions Group and co-head of Technology Investment Banking. Porat also played a crucial role in leading the bank's teams that advised the U.S. Treasury on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the New York Federal Reserve Bank on AIG throughout the financial crisis.

No stranger to the Silicon Valley crowd, Porat also worked as lead banker on several financing rounds for technology companies, including Amazon, eBay, Netscape and Priceline.