Twitter's executive leadership is in flux and it's the perfect time for a woman to take the reins.
In a somewhat surprising announcement yesterday, Twitter's Dick Costolo revealed that he'll be stepping down from his role as CEO beginning July 1. Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey (currently the head of Square) will be acting as interim CEO as the company searches for a replacement.
After a public IPO in late 2013, Twitter has struggled to find its footing. The company's user growth is stagnating and it lost $1.5 billion between 2010 and 2014. People have lots of different thoughts about what Twitter should do to turn things around. One popular idea is to capitalize on its in-the-moment nature during live events like the Superbowl and the Academy Awards. What's less clear is who should be at the helm to direct Twitter's next phase.
According to Business Insider, a couple of inside hires seem promising: CFO Anthony Noto has taken on broader responsibilities in recent months and President of Global Revenue Adam Bain could make for a logical transition, particularly since he has a lot of experience on the operations side of things.
But, we think this is the perfect opportunity for Twitter to take things in a different direction. Twitter has historically been lacking in terms of female leadership. It added its first female board member, Marjorie Scardino, in 2013. Here are four fantastic female candidates we think could lead the company through 2016 and beyond.
Katie Jacobs Stanton, Twitter's VP of Global Media. Not only is she an active Twitter user, with over 95,000 followers and 20,000 tweets, she's been with the company since 2010, so she's versed in its culture. Right now, she leads the company's TV and news campaigns, which are areas that would be increasingly important if Twitter does focus its money-making efforts on live events. She's previously worked at Google, Yahoo, and in the White House.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO. Sure, she's only tweeted 17 times. But, Sandberg certainly has the leadership capabilities and experience to head up a social media giant like Twitter.
Kara Swisher, co-executive editor at Re/code. If Twitter wants to hire someone who's a power user, Swisher has a super-strong Twitter presence: 1.04 million followers and 65.9 thousand tweets. Okay, we'll admit she's a wild card. And, she mostly sticks to writing about tech and media. But, she has deep industry knowledge as well as startup and leadership experience as one of the co-founders of Re/code, which was recently acquired by Vox. It would certainly be interesting to see someone like Swisher, who has a passion for journalism, leading a breaking news hub like Twitter.
Carolyn Everson, Facebook's VP of Global Marketing Solutions. Bloomberg featured Everson in its Women To Watch series in 2012, and she previously acted as CVP of Global Sales and Strategy at Microsoft and COO of MTV Networks' ad sales. She's got serious management experience and is embedded in the social networking space, qualities which would make her an excellent candidate to head up Twitter.
Those are our suggestions. But, Twitter has another candidate it may be considering: Snoop Dogg. He really wants to be head up Twitter. What could possibly go wrong?
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT