Who is Linda Yaccarino? New Twitter CEO is a Penn State grad who just left her NBC job

Elon Musk announced Friday that Linda Yaccarino, a top advertising executive at NBCUniversal, will become the new CEO of Twitter.

NBCUniversal announced earlier Friday that Yaccarino, the company’s longtime advertising chief, was leaving effective immediately. Her sudden departure comes just days before NBCUniversal’s advertising up-front presentation at Radio City Music Hall on May 15, where the company pitches its programing to ad buyers and advertisers.

“It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team,” Yaccarino said in a statement. “We’ve transformed our company and the entire industry — and I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and grateful to my colleagues and mentors, especially Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh and the entire NBCU leadership team.”

Here’s what we know about Yaccarino, and her new role as the CEO of Twitter:

Following several reports, Elon Muck made the news official Friday: Yaccarino will be the new CEO of Twitter.

Musk said Yaccarino will “focus primarily on business operations” while he transitions to being the company’s executive chairman and chief technology officer, focusing on the social media network’s product design and technology.

“Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app,” Musk wrote on Twitter.

Since purchasing Twitter in November, Musk has said it wasn’t his goal to remain the company’s CEO. In December, he wrote on Twitter that he plans to resign as CEO “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job.”

Musk is also the CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla and spacecraft company SpaceX.

Yaccarino is a Nittany Lion, graduating from Penn State in 1985, according to the university’s alumni association.

“Yaccarino is very active within the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications,” Yaccarino’s page on the alumni association’s website reads. “She is an Alumni Fellow, and has served as commencement speaker, addressed the Penn State Forum, hosted on- and off-campus recruiting events, and mentored countless alumni, many of them at NBCUniversal.”

It’s expected Yaccarino would help Twitter rebuild its advertising sales business, which has been impacted by Musk’s erratic leadership and sudden changes to the platform. She had been with NBCUniversal for 12 years, where she’s served as the company’s chief ad sales executive. Prior to that, she spent 20 years as an advertising and sales executive at Turner, now known as Warner Bros. Discovery.

Prior to reports she was joining Twitter, Yaccarino interviewed Musk in Miami last month as part of the Possible event for MMA Global, a marketing trade organization. During the interview, she asked Musk about where he sees Twitter going and his own controversial tweets.

“Elon has committed to being accessible to everyone for continual feedback,” Yaccarino told the audience near the end of the interview. “If freedom of speech, as he says, is the bedrock of this country, I’m not sure there’s anyone in this room who could disagree with that.”

During her tenure at NBC, Yaccarino was among the people former President Donald Trump named to serve a two-year term on the President’s Council on Sport, Fitness, and Nutrition, an advisory committee “that works to increase sports participation among youth of all backgrounds and abilities and to promote healthy and active lifestyles for all Americans.”

Joining Yaccarino on the lengthy list of nominees included former TV host and failed Pennsylvania Republican senate candidate Mehmet Oz, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, New York Yankees Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, and former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach and current Fox Sports analyst Urban Meyer.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.