Facebook Adds Erskine Bowles to Its Board of Directors
Washington, D.C. – Social Network leader Facebook Inc. has “liked” Former White House Chief of Staff & President Emeritus of UNC Erskine Bowles and added her to its Board of Directors. Facebook has been boasting up its board of directors to prepare for its upcoming and expected $100-billion IPO next year or in the near future. Before Bowles, Facebook added another major player in its most coveted board in the form of Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive.
A native of North Carolina, Erskine Bowles was the White House Chief of Staff under President Clinton’s administration, President of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system and also holds board positions with the financial services firm Morgan Stanley, southern retail chain Belk Inc., real-estate developer Cousins Properties Inc. and the railway company Norfolk Southern Corp.
“Erskine has held important roles in government, academia and business which have given him insight into how to build organizations and navigate complex issues,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive and co-founder, in a statement. “Along with his experience founding companies, this will be very valuable as we continue building new things to help make the world more open and connected.”
“Facebook has clearly emerged as a transformative force in the world,” Bowles said. “It’s no wonder given the talent Mark has put in place and the company’s focus and dedication to its mission. I’m really looking forward to getting to work and helping Facebook however I can.”
Even though Facebook did not state in their press release, some IT experts believes the addition of Bowles in the board is a part of its counter action to Google’s lobbying activities in the Congress.
Bowles will be joined by Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, Donald E. Graham, chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Company, Reed Hastings, chairman and CEO of Netflix, and Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund in the impressive list of Facebook Board of Directors.
