Omid Kordestani

Omid R. Kordestani (Persian: امید کردستانی; born 1963) is an Iranian-American businessman who was the Executive Chairman at Twitter from October 2015 to June 2020 and a board member of the company until October 2022.[3][4] He was a Senior Vice President, the Chief Business Officer, and most recently a special advisor to the chief executive officer and founders at Google from July 2014 to October 2015[5] and was a director of Vodafone from March 2013 to October 2014.[6][7] Kordestani had also previously been at Google from May 1999 to April 2009, reaching the position of Senior Vice President for Worldwide Sales and Field Operations.[8]

Omid Kordestani
امید کردستانی
Kordestani at the Web 2.0 Conference, 2005
Born1963 (age 59–60)
Tehran,[1] Imperial State of Iran[2]
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materSan Jose State University (BS)
Stanford University (MBA)

Early life and education

Omid Kordestani was born in Tehran, Iran.[9][10][11][1] He attended Andisheh Don Bosco School, an Italian Catholic school in Tehran that emphasized education and language skills. He moved to San Jose, California after the death of his father in 1976.[2] In 1980, Kordestani graduated from Buchser High School in Santa Clara, California.[2]

He later received an electrical engineering degree from San Jose State University and went to work for Hewlett-Packard as an engineer. Several years later in order to pursue a business degree, he entered Stanford Graduate School of Business and earned his MBA in 1991.[12]

Career

Kordestani has more than a dozen years of high-technology consumer and enterprise experience, including key positions at Internet pioneer Netscape Communications. He was also vice president of Business Development and Sales and grew Netscape's website revenue from an annual run-rate of $88 million to more than $200 million in 18 months. He started his career at Netscape as director of OEM Sales, and during his four-year career at that company, he was responsible for establishing major customer relationships with Citibank, AOL, Amazon, Intuit, Travelocity, Intel, @Home, eBay, and Excite. Prior to Netscape, Kordestani held positions in marketing, product management, and business development at The 3DO Company, Go Corporation, and Hewlett-Packard. He joined Google in May 1999, leading the development and implementation of the company's initial business model and was Google's senior vice president of worldwide sales and field operations until April 16, 2009. Kordestani played a part in Google's worldwide revenue generation efforts as well as the day-to-day operations of the company's sales organization.

On July 18, 2014, Kordestani came back to Google to fill the vacancy of Chief Business Officer at Google after Nikesh Arora, who was recruited to Google by Kordestani himself, left for SoftBank.[13][14] Initially interim, his post became permanent in October.[15]

On October 14, 2015, Kordestani left Google and became Executive Chairman at Twitter.[16] After a power struggle between Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey and Elliott Management, Kordestani was replaced by Patrick Pichette in June 2020. He remained a member of the board until its dissolution in October 2022.[17][4]

In December 2021, Kordestani was appointed as chairman of the Board at Pearson plc.[18] His position became effective in March 2022.[19]

Philanthropy

Kordestani was one of the founders of PARSA Community Foundation (2006–2011),[20][21] an Iranian cultural, heritage, entrepreneurship, and philanthropic society based in Redwood City, California.[22][23]

Personal life

Kordestani net worth was estimated to be $2.2 billion in 2012, after his divorce from Bita Daryabari. Kordestani has two children with Daryabari, and two with Gisel Kordestani, whom he married in 2011.[12]

In the May 8, 2006, issue of Time Magazine, Kordestani was named one of Time's "100 People who shape our world".[24]

Kordestani was selected as the Persian Person of the Year in 2007 by Persian Awards.[25]

See also

References
  1. "California" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
  2. Bob Cooper (July 15, 2007). "Out of Iran / Five extraordinary Iranian Americans love both countries but loathe their leaders' war talk". SfGate.com. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  3. Vengattil, Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Munsif (June 3, 2020). "Twitter names ex Google CFO Pichette as chair, Kordestani to stay on". Reuters. Retrieved April 21, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Conger, Kate (October 28, 2022). "How Twitter Will Change as a Private Company". The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  5. "Management team – Company – Google". Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  6. "Vodafone Group plc : Vodafone Appoints Omid Kordestani as a Non-Executive Director". 4-traders.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  7. "Omid Kordestani Executive Chairman at Twitter". linkedin.
  8. Hof, Rob. "LIVE: Google's First-Quarter Earnings: Revenues Down, Profits Beat Forecasts, Investors Yawn". BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on April 19, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  9. "Alumni Profiles: Omid Kordestani: Google Inc. Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development". Archived from the original on June 25, 2010.
  10. "Committee on Institutional Advancement: Approval of Meeting Minutes of March 11, 2008" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
  11. "San Francisco Luxury Living » Omid Kordestani's $33 Million Year". Sfluxe.com. December 27, 2008. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  12. Wong, Queenie (March 12, 2017). "Following Iranian immigrant Omid Kordestani's rise in building Google's business, leading Twitter's board". The Mercury News. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  13. Larry Page (July 18, 2014). "After almost ten years, +Nikesh Arora our Chief Business Officer, has decided…". Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  14. "What Omid Kordestani, the Chief Business Officer, Says About Google". Re/code. July 20, 2015. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  15. "Exclusive: Google CEO Larry Page Reorgs Staff, Anoints Sundar Pichai as New Product Czar". Re/code. October 24, 2014. Archived from the original on October 11, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  16. "Omid Kordestani Leaves Google, Joins Twitter As Its Executive Chairman". TechCrunch. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  17. Vengattil, Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Munsif (June 2, 2020). "Twitter names ex Google CFO Pichette as chair, Kordestani to stay on". Reuters. Retrieved October 21, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. "Pearson appoints Silicon Valley veteran Omid Kordestani as chair". Financial Times. December 16, 2021. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  19. "Introducing our leaders". Pearson plc. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  20. Moayedian, Ali (October 15, 2007). "PARSA Community Foundation: An Iranian-American philanthropy group is born". Payvand.com. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  21. "PARSA CF Awards $250,000 to the Iranian Genome Project at Stanford". Payvand.com. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  22. Zinko, Carolyne (January 1, 2009). "Hip young crowd opens pockets at Parsa foundation's annual gala". SFGate. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  23. "Persian Community: PARSA CF Awards 2 Grants to Iran Heritage Foundation". Persianesque Magazine. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  24. Deutsch, Donny (April 30, 2006). "Omid Kordestani". TIME. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  25. "In The Spotlight: International Awards and the Accomplished Iranians Who Have Earned Them". Payvand.com. November 22, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
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