Twitter has added a social media veteran to its board of directors.
On Tuesday, the company announced it has appointed Bret Taylor to its board. Taylor was Facebook’s chief technology officer from 2009 to 2012, when he left to found his own startup, Quip, an alternative to tools like Google Drive and Microsoft Office 365, among others.
“Bret brings to our Board a great mind for consumer products and technologies that will be invaluable to the company as we execute our plans for 2016 and beyond,” said Twitter executive chairman Omid Kordestani in a statement. “His skills also complement those of our other recent Board additions, who bring expertise in finance, media, and entrepreneurship.”
Excited to join @twitter's board. Twitter is one of the most important services in the world, and I'm thrilled to be able to work with @jack
— Bret Taylor (@btaylor) July 5, 2016
“For Bret, joining the Board at Twitter made perfect sense,” a Quip spokesperson told Coins2Day. “Twitter wanted to balance their board with that– a person who loves product development and believes it’s the only way to solve business problems.”
Taylor joined Facebook as part of the social network’s acquisition of FriendFeed, a social media aggregator, for a reported $60 million in cash and stock. Taylor co-founded the company with three fellow former Google employees after a brief stint as an “entrepreneur-in-residence” at venture capital firm Benchmark.
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At Google, Taylor help create Google Maps and its application program interface, a software tool that lets other developers use Maps to build their own applications.
Taylor is also on the board of another company: Taser International—yes, the maker of the controversial electrical weapon commonly carried by law enforcement officers, among other products. He joined the company’s board in 2014.
“The company’s technology has a significant opportunity to protect civil liberties and provide transparency around law enforcement. Bret’s very passionate about these topics,” a Quip spokesperson told Coins2Day in regards to Taylor’s position on Taser’s board.
“Additionally, Taser’s commitment to managing the massive amounts of data generated by the company’s wearable technology is an area Bret has experience in. As a board member, Bret can help steer data decisions, and provide guidance as needed.”
On Twitter’s board, Taylor is joining nine other directors, including Twitter co-founders Ev Williams and Jack Dorsey (currently the company’s CEO), Benchmark partner Peter Fenton, BET Networks CEO and chairman Debra L. Lee, Martha Lane Fox of the U.K. House of Lords and co-founder of travel site Lastminute.com.
The story has been updated with comments from a Quip spokesperson.