Twitter Inc. named Patrick Pichette, the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Google, as the new Chairman of the board, making him the first independent chairman of the social media organization.
Pichette had joined the board of directors of Twitter in 2017. He had also served as the Chief of Finance of Google from 2008 to 2015. Further, Pichette served as an executive officer at Bell Canada Enterprises and was a principal at McKinsey & Co.
Pichette will take over from Omid Kordestani, who had been serving on the post since October 2015. Kordestani will still remain on the board of the social media company as a non-employee director.
“I have seen firsthand the significant changes Twitter has undertaken to strengthen and stabilize its leadership structure to achieve long-term sustainable growth and feel confident that I can now step back from my active role as executive chair,” Kordestani said in a statement.
“Given the strength and depth of Twitter’s management team and board, we believe that now is the right time to evolve our governance structure in-line with best practices,” Pichette said in a statement. “We are pleased to demonstrate our commitment to good governance and be in the position to make this important change. We look forward to continuing to benefit from Omid’s expertise on the Board.”
This move comes after activist investor Elliott Management bought a stake in the social media company, challenging the position of Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey, and seeking to potentially replace him. As per the agreement that both sides reached, Dorsey would stay as the CEO while Twitter would de-stagger its board.
Twitter has also been in the news recently for taking action against a few tweets of President of the United States, Donald Trump. It fact-checked two tweets by the President while adding a label to a third tweet for violation of Twitter’s policy on violence.
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