Twitter hired a new person for its mergers and acquisitions team on Thursday, and many at Twitter are already familiar with her. She is none other than Jessica Verrilli, who had worked for Twitter’s corporate development team for a long time and left in May for a short stint at Google Ventures.
Is Dorsey credited for Verrilli’s return?
Verrilli will return to the micro-blogging company as Senior Director of Corp Development & Strategy and will be responsible for overseeing the company’s mergers & acquisitions. Twitter’s M&A department had Rishi Garg as its head , but he quit in June. Garg joined Twitter a year ago from Dorsey’s other company, Square. According to a Twitter spokesperson, that position is still vacant.
Jack Dorsey’s appointment as CEO is believed to have played a major role in Verrilli’s return. “@Jack, @AdamBain and @AnthonyNoto are leading by example. The *entire* team is setting a new course the world is only beginning to see,” Verrilli tweeted.
To Google Ventures, she said, “…thank you. You’ve built an amazing firm. Your understanding says it all.” Her LinkedIn profile has no entry for Google Ventures, but she is listed as an “Investment Partner” at the firm. Google Ventures takes a hit from her departure, but its impact cannot be estimated for now. It can be assumed that Google Ventures does have a succession plan in place.
“Totally get + respect your founder/co. loyalty! Wishing you our very best as you help drive the future of @twitter!” said GV Managing Partner David Krane,
Verrilli’s return a positive for Twitter
Twitter was very active as a buyer for the first part of the year while Garg was there, but it has not made any major acquisition since acquiring Whetlab in June. Verrilli played an important role in Twitter’s acquisition of Periscope, which is an important part of thecompany’s video strategy, says a report from Re/code, which cites unnamed sources. She also helped in bringing Vine and the India-based ZipDial into the fold.
The return of a crucial employee is an indication that the company is on the upswing. The micro-blogging firm has been struggling with flattening user growth for some time and needs to find a solution to acquire more users. During the company’s latest earnings call, Dorsey mentioned that the y are looking for talent to hire, regardless of the recent streamlining it did via layoffs.
