SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Twitter, Inc.
announced today that the Board of Directors has appointed
Debra L. Lee, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of BET Networks, to serve as a Board member,
effective immediately. Ms. Lee will also serve as a member of the
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and, effective
following Twitter's 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, as
chairperson of the committee.
"Twitter has been and continues to be a transformative service
for the media landscape and the world," said Ms. Lee. "I'm excited
to help Jack, Omid, and the rest of the Board continue and further
that impact in the years to come."
"Debra's addition strengthens our Board immensely," said
Omid Kordestani, Twitter's Executive
Chairman. "She's a highly respected leader in the media industry
with decades of experience, and has a clear passion for Twitter as
a service and a company."
Ms. Lee is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BET Networks,
a media and entertainment subsidiary of Viacom, Inc., and the
leading provider of entertainment for the African-American audience
and consumers of Black culture globally. She joined BET in 1986 and
served in a number of executive positions before becoming Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer in January
2006, including President and Chief Executive Officer from
June 2005 to January 2006, President and Chief Operating
Officer from 1995 to 2005 and also served as Executive Vice
President and General Counsel, and Vice President and General
Counsel.
Ms. Lee has been named one of The Hollywood Reporter's 100 Most
Powerful Women in Entertainment, and was inducted into the
Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and the Washington Business
Hall of Fame. She was also the first African-American female
executive to be honored with the Distinguished Leadership Vanguard
Award by the National Cable & Telecommunications
Association.
Ms. Lee serves on the board of Marriott International, Inc. and
WGL Holdings, Inc., an energy company. She also serves on the board
of a number of professional and civic organizations, including as
Immediate Past Chair of the Advertising Council, as the President
of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, and as a Trustee Emeritus at
Brown University. Ms. Lee holds a B.A.
from Brown University, a J.D. from
Harvard Law School, and an M.P.P.
from Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University.
Additionally, the Board has appointed Marjorie Scardino as lead independent director,
effective following Twitter's 2016 Annual Meeting. Among other
responsibilities, as lead independent director, Ms. Scardino will
preside over meetings of Twitter's independent directors, approve
proposed meeting agendas and schedules, and call meetings of the
Board or independent directors. She succeeds Peter Currie in the role, whose term will end
following the Annual Meeting.
About Twitter, Inc.
Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) is a global
platform for public self-expression and conversation in real time.
By developing a fundamentally new way for people to consume,
create, distribute, and discover content, Twitter enables any voice
to echo around the world instantly and unfiltered. The service can
be accessed at Twitter.com, on a variety of mobile devices, and via
SMS. Available in more than 40 languages, Twitter reported 310
million monthly active users as of the quarter ended March 31, 2016. For more information, visit
about.twitter.com or follow @twitter.
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SOURCE Twitter, Inc.