Twitter Adds BET CEO Debra Lee to Board
May 16 2016 - 5:57PM
Dow Jones News
By Ezequiel Minaya
Twitter Inc. said Monday that it had named BET Networks CEO
Debra Lee to its board, the latest move to retool its group of
directors as Chief Executive Jack Dorsey seeks more diversity.
Mr. Dorsey has pushed to remake the internet messaging-service
company's board, seeking additions who "bring diversity and
represent the strong communities on Twitter," he said in an April
tweet. On that day, he named two directors, PepsiCo Inc.'s
Financial Chief Hugh Johnston and U.K. Internet entrepreneur Martha
Lane Fox, to the board.
Investors have criticized Twitter for having a board full of
white males and several members who don't use the service.
Ms. Lee is CEO of BET, a broadcast channel aimed at
African-Americans that is asubsidiary of Viacom Inc. She also sits
on the boards of Marriott International Inc. and WGL Holdings Inc.,
an energy company. On Twitter's board, she was slated to serve as a
member of the nominating and corporate governance committee.
Additionally, Twitter said the board had named Marjorie Scardino
its lead independent director, succeeding Peter Currie in the
role.
Mr. Dorsey, who was reinstalled as CEO of Twitter in October
after originally co-founding the company and then leaving it in
2008, is making board swaps as he hopes to revive the sagging
fortunes of the social media company.
Mr. Dorsey had made it a condition when he was hired that he
would be given full leeway in changing the board's makeup, a person
familiar with the matter has told The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Dorsey's goal is to jump-start user growth, which has waned.
A series of strategy changes and dramatic management shuffles under
Mr. Dorsey's predecessor, Dick Costolo, stalled progress on that
front for years.
Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 16, 2016 17:42 ET (21:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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