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Feb. 16 (UPI) -- YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down from her position, citing family and health reasons, the company confirmed Thursday. "Today, after nearly 25 years here, I've decided to step back from my role as the head of YouTube and start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I'm passionate about," Wojcicki said in a letter posted on the company's blog.
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Chief product officer Neal Mohan is taking over as the company's top executive.
Wojcicki worked for YouTube parent company Alphabet Inc. for almost 25 years. She was appointed as YouTube CEO in 2014, after previously serving as Google senior vice president of advertising.
Wojcicki, 54, said she will remain to help with the leadership transition.
"The time is right for me, and I feel able to do this because we have an incredible leadership team in place at YouTube. When I joined YouTube nine years ago, one of my first priorities was bringing in an incredible leadership team," Wojcicki said.
A native of Santa Clara, Calif., Wojcicki is widely recognized for renting her garage to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the company's early days.
"Twenty-five years ago I made the decision to join a couple of Stanford graduate students who were building a new search engine. Their names were Larry and Sergey. I saw the potential of what they were building, which was incredibly exciting, and although the company had only a few users and no revenue, I decided to join the team," Wojcicki wrote in her letter, which was also shared with employees.
"It would be one of the best decisions of my life."
She previously appeared on Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful women.
