Twitter has unanimously appointed its chief technology officer Parag Agrawal as its CEO. This comes after Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down from his position.
Dorsey ended his nearly 16-year stint with the social media giant on November 29. The resignation of Dorsey will come into effect immediately.
Dorsey’s exit
“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said.
Dorsey expressed faith in Agrawal, who joined Twitter in 2011.
“My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It’s his time to lead,” Dorsey said.
Before joining Twitter, Agrawal was involved in large-scale data management research with collaborators at Microsoft Research, Yahoo! Research, and AT&T Labs.
Agrawal had pursued degrees in B.Tech and Computer Science from IIT Bombay. He later pursued a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University in California.
Good track record
Agrawal was appointed as the company’s CTO in 2017. During his tenure as CTO, Agrawal has been responsible for the microblogging site’s technical strategy, heading initiatives to improve development velocity and advancing the state of machine learning across the company.
He had also emerged as Twitter’s first Distinguished Engineer.
Agrawal said he is grateful to Dorsey for the “mentorship” received over the past decade.
“I am honoured and humbled. And I’m grateful for your (Dorsey’s) continued mentorship and your friendship. I’m grateful for the service that you built, the culture, soul, and purpose you fostered among us and for leading the company through really significant challenges,” he said.
