Micro-blogging platform Twitter has today announced a new addition to its board of directors. Quip CEO and co-founder Bret Taylor has been appointed as a board member, effective immediately. He will work with the class of directors whose term will expire at the next annual shareholders meeting in 2017.
Trying to grasp onto the nerve of the current generation, Twitter has now been making multiple changes to its coveted social media platform. And top management changes and reaching out for advisory help, even from the arch-enemy Facebook seems to be one of them. The addition of Taylor will definitely help Twitter enhance its reach to a new set of users.
Taylor expressed his view on joining the board and added that,
Twitter is the fastest way to find out what’s happening, and beneath its simplicity lies a very sophisticated set of technology. I hope to bring my knowledge and experiences to bear to help Jack and the Board push Twitter and its services forward.
According to the regulatory filing, Taylor will be compensated with a mix of cash and equity for his service on the management board. Twitter’s executive chairman Omid Kordestani believes that Taylor’s knowledge of consumer products and technologies will be an invaluable resource for the company. His expertise matches with those members added to the board recently, including PepsiCo’s Hugh Johnston, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, among others.
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and current CEO of the micro-blogging platform also welcomed Taylor to the board with a tweet. Dorsey has been heading Twitter, since former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down from the board.
News!: @btaylor is joining the Twitter Board! Bret brings world class experience, insight, & thoughtfulness around building social services.
— Jack (@jack) July 5, 2016
This is Twitter’s effort of bulking up on experience and expertise to revive the platform and add more latest technologies to attract users. Also, if you look at Taylor’s resume, you’ll realize at once why the micro-blogging platform has poached him as an advisory member on the company’s board.
Bret Taylor, aged 35, holds a Bachelors of Science and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University. He is currently serving as the co-founder and CEO of a productivity software company, Quip. Prior to setting up his own business, Taylor was involved with some of the biggest Silicon Valley tech giants.
Until June 2007, Taylor worked as a Group Product Manager at Google Inc., where he co-created Google Maps and the Google Maps API from scratch. He then moved on to join a VC firm, BenchMark as an entrepreneur-in-residence and co-founded the social network, Friendfeed Inc., which was later acquired by Facebook in 2009. He served as the CTO of Facebook for three whole years, before exiting and starting Quip.
Taylor currently is also a member of the director board of security technologies company, TASER International Inc.
