Stockholders elect the Board to oversee management and to ensure that stockholder long-term interests are served. Through oversight, review, and counsel, the Board establishes and promotes Zynga's business and organizational objectives. Among other things, our Board oversees our business affairs and integrity and works with management to determine our mission and long-term strategy.
Mark Pincus Chief Executive Officer, Chief Product Officer and Chairman
Mark Pincus founded Zynga and has served as our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Product Officer and Chairman since April 2007. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Pincus served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of tribe.net, a company he co-founded and one of the first social networks in the industry. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Pincus served as Chairman of Support.com, Inc., a remote technology services company he co-founded, and he served as Chief Executive Officer and President from December 1997 to July 1999. From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Pincus served as Chief Executive Officer of FreeLoader, Inc., a web-based news company he co-founded. Mr. Pincus holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Mr. Pincus was selected to serve on our board of directors due to the perspective and experience he brings as our Chief Executive Officer and his extensive experience in the social media and Internet industry.
John Schappert Chief Operating Officer and Director
John Schappert has served as our Chief Operating Officer since May 2011 and as a member of our board of directors since July 2011. From July 2009 until April 2011, Mr. Schappert served as Chief Operating Officer of Electronic Arts Inc., an interactive entertainment software company. From August 2007 until July 2009, he served as Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, the technology entertainment division of Microsoft Corporation. From joining Electronic Arts in 1998 until July 2007, Mr. Schappert served in various executive positions ranging from Vice President through Executive Vice President. Mr. Schappert was selected to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience in the technology entertainment industry.
William "Bing" Gordon has served on our board of directors since July 2008. Mr. Gordon has been a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, since June 2008. Mr. Gordon is a co-founder of Electronic Arts Inc. and served as its Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer from March 1998 to May 2008. Mr. Gordon serves on the boards of Lockerz, Inc., a web-based social commerce company; Katango, Inc., a social resource management company; Klout, Inc., a social media company; Amazon.com, Inc., a multinational e-commerce company; Zazzle Inc., a web-based custom products company; and Mevio, Inc., a digital media entertainment company. He was also a founding director at ngmoco, LLC (acquired by DeNA Co. Ltd. in 2010) and Audible, Inc. (acquired by Amazon.com, Inc. in 2008). Mr. Gordon was awarded the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and held the game industry's first endowed chair in game design at USC School of Cinematic Arts. He earned an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. from Yale University, where he serves on the President's Council. Mr. Gordon's individual qualifications and skills as a director include his leadership and entrepreneurial experience as a senior executive and co-founder of a software gaming company (Electronic Arts Inc.), through which he gained experience with emerging technologies and consumer-focused product development and marketing issues, as well as his experience as a venture capitalist investing in technology companies.
Reid Hoffman has served on our board of directors since January 2008. Mr. Hoffman has been a Partner at Greylock Partners, a venture capital firm, since November 2009. From March 2003 to February 2007 and from December 2008 to June 2009, he served as Chief Executive Officer of LinkedIn Corporation, an online professional networking company. From February 2007 to December 2008, Mr. Hoffman also served as President, Products of LinkedIn Corporation, and he served as its Executive Chair from June 2009 to November 2009. From January 2000 to October 2002, Mr. Hoffman was Executive Vice President of PayPal, Inc., an online payment company. Mr. Hoffman serves on the board of directors for SixApart Ltd., a blogging and social media company; Kiva.org, a microfinance company; Mozilla Corporation, a software company; and LinkedIn Corporation. Mr. Hoffman holds an M.A. in Philosophy from Oxford University and a B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University. Mr. Hoffman was selected to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience with social media and technology companies.
Jeffrey Katzenberg has served on our board of directors since February 2011. Mr. Katzenberg currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., a computer-generated animation studio and entertainment company. He has held both of these roles since October 2004. Mr. Katzenberg co-founded and was a principal member of DreamWorks L.L.C. ( "DreamWorks Studios") from its founding in October 1994 until January 2006. Prior to founding DreamWorks Studios, Mr. Katzenberg served as a chairman of the board of The Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994. Prior to joining The Walt Disney Studios, Mr. Katzenberg served as the President of Paramount Studios. Mr. Katzenberg is the Chairman of the Board for the Motion Picture & Television Fund Foundation. He serves on the boards of AIDS Project Los Angeles, American Museum of the Moving Image, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, California Institute of the Arts, Geffen Playhouse, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Mr. Katzenberg was selected to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience in the entertainment industry.
Stanley J. Meresman has served on our board of directors since June 2011. During the last five years, Mr. Meresman has been serving on the boards of directors of various public and private companies, including service as chair of the audit committee for some of these companies. He currently serves as a director of LinkedIn Corporation, Meru Networks, Inc. and Riverbed Technology, Inc. and previously served as a director of Polycom Inc. from January 1995 to March 2007, each of which is a public company. From January 2004 through December 2004, Mr. Meresman was a Venture Partner with Technology Crossover Ventures, a private equity firm, and was General Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Technology Crossover Ventures from November 2001 to December 2003. During the four years prior to joining Technology Crossover Ventures, Mr. Meresman was a private investor and board member and advisor to several technology companies. He served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Silicon Graphics, Inc. from May 1989 to May 1997. Mr. Meresman holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Meresman was selected to serve on our board of directors due to his background as chair of the audit committee of other public companies and his financial and accounting expertise from his prior extensive experience as chief financial officer of two publicly traded corporations. Mr. Meresman qualifies as an "audit committee financial expert" under Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines. In addition, his current service on other public company boards of directors provides us with important perspectives on corporate governance matters.
Sunil Paul has served on our board of directors since November 2011. Mr. Paul has been a Partner at Spring Ventures since founding the firm in January 2007. From May 2004 to January 2007, he was an independent investor during that time. From February 1998 to May 2004 Mr. Paul served as Founding Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Brightmail, Inc., a software company he co-founded. From November 1995 to May 1996, Mr. Paul served as Chief Executive Officer of FreeLoader, a company he co-founded. Mr. Paul holds a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Paul was selected to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience with Internet companies.
Owen Van Natta has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2010. Mr. Van Natta served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer from August 2010 to November 2011. From April 2010 to August 2010, Mr. Van Natta served as a consultant to us in his role as a General Partner of Luminor Group LLC, a consulting company. From April 2009 until February 2010, Mr. Van Natta served as the Chief Executive Officer of Myspace, Inc., an online social media company. From November 2008 until April 2009, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Project Playlist, Inc., an online music sharing company. From May 2007 to February 2008, he was the Chief Revenue Officer at Facebook, Inc., an online social media company. From September 2005 until May 2007, Mr. Van Natta was the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. Mr. Van Natta holds a B.A. in English from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Mr. Van Natta was selected to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience in the social media and Internet entertainment industry.