The Board of Directors of Uber Technologies, Inc. appointed Nikesh Arora to the Board, according to an exchange filing, effective May 31.
Arora, 57, has served as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Palo Alto Networks, a leading global cybersecurity company, since June 2018.
Before joining Palo Alto Networks, from 2016 through 2018, Arora was an angel investor, and from June 2016 through December 2017, he served as an advisor to SoftBank Group Corp., a multinational conglomerate company.
From July 2015 through June 2016, Arora served as president and chief operating officer of SoftBank, and from July 2014 through June 2015, Arora served as vice chair and chief executive officer of SoftBank Internet and Media, a subsidiary of SoftBank.
Prior to SoftBank, from December 2004 to July 2014, Arora held multiple senior leadership operating roles at Google, Inc., including senior vice president and chief business officer from January 2011 to June 2014.
Arora also serves on the board of Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A., a publicly traded Swiss-based luxury goods holding company. Arora previously served on the boards of Aviva plc, an insurance company, from 2007 to 2009; Bharti Airtel, a communications services company, from 2008 to 2014; Sprint Corp., a communications services company, from 2014 to 2016; Colgate-Palmolive Company, a worldwide consumer products company, from 2012 to 2014; SoftBank from 2014 to 2016; and Yahoo! Japan, an internet company, from 2015 to 2016.
“Nikesh is a globally respected business leader with deep experience across technology, finance, and cybersecurity,” said Ron Sugar, independent Chairperson of the Board. “His leadership in scaling innovative businesses and navigating complex international markets will be invaluable as Uber continues to grow and evolve.”
“Nikesh is one of the technology industry’s great executives: a strategic and disciplined operator, and a fierce competitor,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, Chief Executive Officer of Uber. “We’re thrilled to welcome him to the board and look forward to his contributions as we continue to advance our long-term strategy.”
“Uber has already fundamentally transformed how people and goods move through cities, and I look forward to contributing to the company’s continued success,” said Arora.
Arora was nominated to serve on the company’s board of directors principally based on his extensive leadership experience in global technology, his operational and financial expertise, and his track record of corporate governance at leading public companies.
For his service on the company’s board, Arora will participate in the company’s compensation program for non-employee directors, under which he will receive $60,000 annual cash retainer and (an annual grant of restricted stock units, vesting before each annual stockholders meeting, with a fair value of $300,000, each as prorated for his partial year of service. He is also entitled to a cash retainer in connection with his service on the nominating and governance committee and the compensation committee.
