Two days after an management exodus shook Twitter, the social network named an American Express executive as its new marketing chief.
CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted to confirm Leslie Berland’s appointment Tuesday. Recode had been reported earlier Berland was the likely candidate.
The company has struggled to win investors’ confidence, a worry that deepened this week as the first departures under Dorsey came in a wave that suggested substantive changes could be delayed. Founder Dorsey returned to Twitter in October to spearhead a turnaround as CEO, but the company’s market value has continued to slide. The stock has lost half its value in the last year.
Shares were down 1.6 percent at $16.75 in recent trade, after trading higher briefly at the open.
Berland faces the challenge of pitching an online network to consumers that critics charge is too inscrutable for the mainstream masses. The network’s culture of in-the-moment messages in chronological order, restrained to 140 characters and peppered with hashtags, has been criticized for keeping people unfamiliar with it at arm’s length.
She will be in charge of the company’s global consumer, product, and sales marketing. In a statement, Berland said she would work with Dorsey to amplify Twitter’s reach and impact as the company enters an “exciting new chapter.”
“Twitter is a service like no other. It has and continues to change the world, shaping how we communicate and connect, how we’re entertained, informed and inspired,” she added.