Behind every Zoom call or Google Meet, there is a visionary who made it possible.
And if you look at the history of the internet, you’d think that Voice over IP was invented by a man.
That is why I want you to meet Marian Croak. She played a pivotal role in developing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology during her time at AT&T. Her work made online calls and remote work possible.
How did that happen? Scroll down below and I’ll tell you.
About Marian Croak
Marian Rogers Croak was born in 1955 in New York. Her father, who built her a home chemistry set, inspired her to enter tech.
She attended Princeton to study social psychology and obtained a Ph.D. in Quantitative Analysis and Psychology from the University of Southern California in 1982.
In that same year, she joined AT&T, where she would work for 3 decades before joining Google.
Her contribution to the Internet
Marian Croak is best known for her work on Voice over IP (VoIP).
When she joined AT&T Bell Laboratories, Croak first began working on digital messaging applications. She investigated whether various messaging applications could communicate with each other.
Her work involved converting the traditional circuit-switched networks used for telephone calls into more efficient packet-switched networks. This shift allowed voice data to be transmitted over the internet, which was a revolutionary concept at the time.
Croak’s innovations made VoIP more reliable, scalable, and widely accessible, paving the way for modern communication platforms like Zoom, Skype, and WhatsApp that we rely on today.
“You need to be childlike. A little naïve and not inhibited by what’s possible.” – Marian Croak
More than just VoIP
To say that she is a prolific inventor would be an understatement. Marian holds over 200 patents, about half of them related to VoIP developments. In 2022, she was one of the first two women of color to be inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Marian Croak is deeply committed to advocating for underrepresented groups in the tech industry. Throughout her career, she has been a passionate mentor and advocate for women and people of color, encouraging them to pursue careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
She has worked to create more inclusive and supportive environments within tech companies, emphasizing the importance of diversity in driving innovation. At Google, she continues to lead initiatives aimed at improving diversity and inclusion, leveraging her position to push for systemic changes that make the tech industry more fair.
Her efforts have inspired many and contributed to a broader movement toward greater representation in technology.
The story of Marian Croak continues
Marian Croak is still working at Google. She holds a senior leadership position as Vice President of Engineering. In this role, she leads efforts in site reliability engineering and is involved in projects focused on expanding internet access globally, as well as initiatives to improve the reliability and scalability of Google’s services.
Additionally, she continues to be an advocate for diversity and inclusion within the company, playing an active role in mentoring and supporting underrepresented groups in tech.
So, the next time you join a Teams meeting or use WhatsApp to send a voice memo, remember Marian Croak.
Women Disrupting Tech | The Podcast 
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