End of an Era: Exit of Internet Visionary from Time Warner Board

Time Warner today reported that Miles Gilburne has decided not to stand for re-election to its Board of Directors. While he may not be as well known as Steve Case and other former members of the AOL executive team, Miles was every bit as influential.

I've never worked at AOL but being in the tech sector in Washington, it's hard to avoid working with them. The company has surely made some egregious mistakes over the past several years. Yet the energy and innovation of AOL in the early days was part of what drove the momentum of the Internet. And it certainly fueled consumer adoption. Miles played a significant role, albeit largely in the background, in many of AOL’s strategic decisions. As Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons said, the company greatly benefited from his “pioneering energy and forward-thinking insights”.

With pressure from shareholder opportunists like Carl Icahn, and dramatic shifts in business models and market demands, it seems that Time Warner could use all the creativity and intelligence it can muster in its executive team. Let’s hope that the company fills this Board vacancy with someone who can help to envision the future … as opposed to squabbling about the past.