LinkedIn names A. George “Skip” Battle to board of directors and continues rapid company expansion
Mountain View, Calif. – April 8, 2010 – LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network with more than 65 million members globally, today announced the appointment of A. George “Skip” Battle to the company’s board of directors. In addition to LinkedIn, Battle is also a member of the board of directors at several companies including Expedia, Netflix, OpenTable and Workday. He is also a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute. LinkedIn chose to expand its board as its membership continues to scale internationally and as it prepares to nearly double the size of its staff in 2010.
“We are positioning the company for significant growth this year and over the long term,” said Jeff Weiner, chief executive officer, LinkedIn. “Skip Battle brings a unique combination of consumer web and enterprise experience that will help guide our company.”
Battle’s appointment brings the total number of LinkedIn board members to five. Prior to serving on the boards of several technology companies, Battle served with Andersen Consulting in various roles, including worldwide managing partner, market development, until his retirement from Andersen Consulting. Battle served as a director of PeopleSoft until its acquisition by Oracle. He is also the former chief executive officer and executive chairman of Ask Jeeves.
In addition to expanding its board and global membership, LinkedIn continues to focus on company growth and plans to add over 350 employees this year, bringing the total staff to more than 850 employees by the end of 2010. The expanded staff will focus on engineering and product development as well as sales and international customer growth. More than 50 percent of the Fortune 100 already use LinkedIn’s recruiting solutions to find and contact highly qualified passive candidates. The company currently has operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, India and the Netherlands. LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries and 200 countries.
About LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an Internet company focused on connecting the world’s professionals. The company is privately held and has a diversified business model with revenues driven from user subscriptions, advertising sales and software licensing. The LinkedIn Web site launched in 2003 and is the largest professional networking site in the world with more than 65 million members, representing 200 countries and executives from every Fortune 500 company.