Peter Chernin, Peter Currie to Exit Twitter Board
Hollywood exec Peter Chernin and tech investor Peter Currie are leaving Twitter’s board, and the company has named two new directors — PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston and Internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox.
Chernin, founder and chairman of Chernin Entertainment and the Chernin Group, and Currie, former CFO of Netscape who has been a Twitter director since 2000, will remain on the board until the conclusion of Twitter’s 2016 annual shareholders meeting in May, the company disclosed in an SEC filing Friday.
“Privileged to have served on Twitter board for 3+years,” Chernin tweeted Friday. “Respect and support for @jack. Friendships and Twitter success will continue.”
Privileged to have served on Twitter board for 3+years. Respect and support for @jack. Friendships and Twitter success will continue.
— Peter Chernin (@PeterChernin) April 8, 2016
Johnston, vice chairman and CFO of PepsiCo, and Lane Fox, founder and chair of karaoke company Lucky Voice, joined the Twitter board effective April 6. Johnston will become chair of Twitter’s audit committee following the 2016 stockholders meeting, a position currently held by Currie.
In October, Twitter named longtime Google exec Omid Kordestani its executive chairman. Kordestani most recently was Google’s chief business officer.
Kordestani tweeted that the Twitter board is “working to bring greater diversity to our ranks”:
The entire Board is working to bring greater diversity to our ranks. Watch this space
— Omid Kordestani (@omidkordestani) April 8, 2016
Chernin, who joined Twitter’s board in 2012, headed up the social company’s nominating and governance committee, which appointed Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey as permanent CEO in October.
Johnston, 54, first joined PepsiCo in 1987. He left to serve as VP of retail for Merck Medco from 1999 to 2002 before returning to PepsiCo. Johnston served on the board of AOL from October 2012 to June 2015.
Lane Fox, 43, was co-founder and managing director of travel and leisure website LastMinute.com from 1998 to 2003, and remained on the board of directors until 2005. Since August 2005, she’s been chairperson of Lucky Voice and since September 2012 as chair of MakieLab, a 3D printing and game company. In September 2015, Lane Fox founded DotEveryone.org.uk, an organization dedicated to advancing the understanding and use of Internet-enabled technologies. From 2007-15, she served on the board of U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer.
Twitter is scheduled to report first quarter 2016 results on April 26 after market close.
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