WASHINGTON: Adam Sharp, head of news, government, and elections and director of media partnerships at Twitter, has left the company after six years.
Naturally, Sharp announced his departure in a series of tweets, saying he was "grateful for every minute" and thanking various executive members of the Twitter team. He also said Peter Greenberger, Twitter’s global director of news, and Colin Crowell, VP and head of Twitter’s public policy and corporate philanthropy teams, will take over his role.
1/ Some personal news… After an incredible journey through more than a dozen elections on five continents, I am leaving @Twitter. pic.twitter.com/ISJNAlQiLG
— Adam Sharp ?? (@AdamS) December 9, 2016
Sharp did not announce what he was planning to do next. In a post on LinkedIn, he commented that he is "taking some time through the holidays and charting next politics/news/tech adventure in the new year." He also noted on Twitter that he had some projects in the works.
Sharp led the platform’s approach to the 2012 and 2016 U.S. and more than a dozen international elections during his tenure. He was also director of media partnerships and worked closely with the media, government, and political candidates that wanted to make use of Twitter.
Prior to Twitter, Sharp was executive producer of digital services at CSPAN and deputy chief of staff for Louisiana Senator Mary L. Landrieu and director of communications and technology in the U.S. Senate, where he worked on crisis communications after Hurricane Katrina. He also spent time with Alan Weiss Productions and NBC News.
Twitter’s comms team took a hit in August, when head of communications Natalie Kerris stepped down, followed by the departure of Jim Prosser, head of corporate, revenue, and policy communications for Twitter. The comms duties were absorbed into CMO Leslie Berland’s role.
A number of other Twitter executives have left in recent months. Twitter CTO Adam Messinger departed in December and VP of product development Josh McFarland left to join Greylock. The company’s COO Adam Bain left in November. Twitter laid off 9% of its workforce, about 350 people, and shut down its video app Vine over the past few months.
