Facebook today announced the addition of Kenneth I. Chenault, CEO of American Express, to its board of directors. His appointment becomes effective Feb. 5, 2018.
“I’ve been trying to recruit Ken for years,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a press release. “He has unique expertise in areas I believe Facebook needs to learn and improve — customer service, direct commerce, and building a trusted brand. Ken also has a sense of social mission and integrity I admire and the perspective that comes from running an important public company for decades.”
Chenault, who joined American Express in 1981, has been chairman and CEO of the firm since 2001. In addition to serving on Facebook’s board, Chenault serves on the boards of IBM, Procter & Gamble, the Harvard Corporation and others.
“I’m delighted to join the board and look forward to working with Mark and the other directors as Facebook continues to build communities that help bring people closer to friends, family and the world around them,” Chenault said in a press release.
Chenault is an African-American and is the first African-American to serve on Facebook’s board of directors. In 2014 Rainbow PUSH Coalition, released a report stating here were only three black people and one Hispanic person sitting on the boards of directors at 20 major tech companies in that year.
