John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Twitter Taps Pixar Exec as CFO

Twitter has finally found a chief financial officer.

Ali Rowghani, currently CFO and senior VP of strategic planning at Pixar Animation Studios, will bring his financial acumen to the microblogging service come March, making it, for better or worse, a “legitimate” company.

“Ali will be an important member of a growing team focused on creating value for our users and capturing the financial opportunities that result from it,” Twitter CEO Evan Williams said in a statement. “His thoughtfulness on retaining a great culture to work and staying consistent with your principles will also be a significant contribution.”

Great. But how is he with IPOs?

Rowghani’s pre-Twitter bio:

Ali Rowghani is Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning for Pixar Animation Studios, Disney Animation Studios, and Disney Toon Studios. In this role he oversees the finance teams at each animation division, the Facilities and Real Estate functions at Pixar, as well as the business aspects of Pixar’s RenderMan software group.

Ali joined Pixar in 2001 and has held a variety of finance positions at the studio. He was appointed Director of Pixar’s Production Finance and Strategy group in 2004. Before joining Pixar, Ali was an Associate at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. During his time at McKinsey, Ali was based for nine months in Germany. He later spent one year in Japan with McKinsey Global Institute, the Firm’s renowned economics think tank.

Ali holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Business Administration degree, both from Stanford University. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and spent a year studying at the University of Bonn in Germany. Born in Iran, Ali moved to Dallas, TX with this family when he was five years old. He remains a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

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