Facebook Says Erskine Bowles Joining Board of Directors
September 07, 2011, 8:37 PM EDTBy Brian Womack
(Updates with Zuckerberg’s comment in third paragraph.)
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc., the world’s most popular social-networking service, named Erskine Bowles, a member of former President Bill Clinton’s administration, as a director, expanding the board to seven members.
Bowles, who most recently served as co-chair of President Barack Obama’s bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, was White House chief of staff under Clinton from 1996 to 1998, the company said today. Bowles also was president of the University of North Carolina system from 2006 to 2010.
“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, chief executive officer of Facebook, 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 is expanding its board while preparing to either disclose financial data or hold an initial public offering by April. The company said in June that Reed Hastings, chief executive officer of Netflix Inc., joined the board.
Bowles is also a director of bank holding company Morgan Stanley, rail transportation provider Norfolk Southern Corp. and retailer Belk Inc.
--Editors: Lisa Rapaport, Jillian Ward
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net.
