Penn State Alumna Linda Yaccarino Named New CEO of Twitter

A Penn State alumna will be the new CEO of Twitter.

Linda Yaccarino, a 1985 graduate of the university with a degree in communications, will become the social media company’s top-ranking executive within the next six weeks, owner Elon Musk announced on Friday.

Yaccarino “will focus primarily on business operations,” while Musk transitions to chairman and chief technology officer overseeing product design and new technology, he wrote.

Described by the New York Times as “one of Madison Avenue’s power brokers for decades,” Yaccarino heads to Twitter from NBCUniversal, where she worked for the last 12 years and has been chair of global advertising and partnerships, managing over $12 billion in revenue. NBCUniversal issued a statement on Friday saying she is leaving the company, effective immediately.

Yaccarino previously was an advertising executive at Turner Broadcasting (now Warner Bros. Discovery) for nearly 20 years. Her appointment signals a renewed focus on a Twitter advertising base that has been shaky since Musk acquired the company in 2022.

Outside of her work as a media executive, Yaccarino is chair of the World Economic Forum’s Taskforce on the Future of Work, a past chair of the Ad Council and was a member of the President’s Council on Sports Fitness and Nutrition for two years under President Donald Trump.

Yaccarino has remained involved with Penn State throughout her career. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award, the university’s highest honor for alumni, in 2020.

She is also a Penn State Alumni Fellow, was the commencement speaker for the College of Communication in 2014 and has addressed the Penn State Forum speaker series. According to the Alumni Association, Yaccarino has “hosted on- and off-campus recruiting events, and mentored countless alumni, many of them at NBCUniversal.”