Parag Agrawal, a Twitter veteran and close confidant of Dorsey, is taking over the reigns, effective immediately. His appointment was unanimously approved by Twitter’s board of directors, Twitter announced.
“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past ten years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It’s his time to lead,” said Dorsey in a company statement.
Dorsey will remain a board member until his term expires at the 2022 meeting of the company’s stockholders.
Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 and has served as chief technology officer (CTO) since October 2017. He has been responsible for the company’s technical strategy, leading work to improve development velocity while advancing the use of machine learning across the company. His contributions played a significant role in re-accelerating audience growth between 2016 and 2017 and driving revenue for the company.
He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
“Parag understands Twitter and appreciates the company’s unique potential. He has been instrumental in tackling our most important priorities, including accelerating our development velocity, and I know he’ll hit the ground running to strengthen execution and deliver results. The board has the utmost confidence in Parag,” said Taylor.
As part of the executive shuffle, the company has also named Bret Taylor as the board’s new chairman. Taylor succeeds Patrick Pichette, who will remain on the board and continue to serve as chair of the audit committee.
