Twilio has appointed Jeff Immelt, former chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) and current venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, to the Twilio board of directors.

Immelt (featured image) brings nearly 20 years of executive and boardroom experience at the helm of a world-leading global enterprise to Twilio.

Twilio CEO and co-founder, Jeff Lawson said: “Jeff is a world class leader with deep experience guiding global operations at scale.

“His contributions will be invaluable as we help enterprises across the globe use the right communication channels to establish and nurture digital engagement with their customers.”

During Immelt’s sixteen year tenure as CEO at GE, he led the company through several innovative changes, including leading GE’s digital transformation and reshaping the company’s global strategy and footprint to leverage innovative technologies.

GE is a preeminent global company, with more than half of its total revenue generated outside of the U.S.

Under Immelt’s leadership, revenue from emerging markets quadrupled and GE built a presence in other critical growth markets.

Immelt commented: “Twilio is leading the charge in business communications at scale.

“I am thrilled to join the company at such a pivotal point in their trajectory, and look forward to advising Twilio as it continues to fuel the future of communications.”

Immelt has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s, and saw GE named “America’s Most Admired Company” by Fortune magazine during his time as CEO.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College and a master’s of business administration from Harvard University.

Immelt will also be a member of Twilio’s compensation committee.