AOL names its post-Time Warner board

In preparation for its upcoming spin-off from parent company Time Warner, AOL has named nine members to its board of directors--and from what it sounds like, more additions to the board could be coming.

The current lineup includes former Amazon Chief Information Officer Richard Dalzell, Plainfield Asset Management partner Karen Dykstra, financial services exec William Hambrecht, Paley Center for Media Director Patricia Mitchell, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, former CBS Chief Financial Officer Fredric Reynolds, former Procter & Gamble exec James Stengel, and ex-William Morris Agency CEO James Wiatt.

"AOL is very fortunate to have an exceptional group of proven leaders to serve on our board of directors," CEO Tim Armstrong, who took over the reins of the company this spring, said in a release. "AOL is on a mission to help create the future of media and content and the AOL board will play a central part in helping us focus the strategy and also operate the company with the highest ethical standards."

The majority of the board members don't hail from Armstrong's own Silicon Valley turf: the CEO served as Google's director of sales up until his hire at AOL. But most of them are veterans of traditional media, which presumably will give the onetime dial-up king an advantage as it attempts to shape itself into a digital-content power player--at least on the surface.

(Disclosure: One of AOL's new board members has a past affiliation with CBS Corp., which publishes CNET News.)

[jarturof]

The league of doom, the last board of AOL, in a year or two bankrupcy and some other company will absorb the current customers.

Other than people clinging to old email addresses - what else do they have? They'll be gone in a year - see ya!

[chuck_whealton]

Honestly, I'm so tired of hearing about this company. I agree, they don't have much longer left.

They only ones who will get anything out of this are the "newly appointed board members". The stockholders won't be left with anything....

[JCPayne]

I remember when Microsoft wanted to buyout AOL... AOL will prob. end up getting purchased by one of the Bell phone companies..... Then they'll just keep profits from its base and slowly convert them over to new offerings.

[corelogik]

AoL needs to hurry up and die like the remnant of the 90's that it is. No one worth noting uses it. They had a good model and a good thing going when they were in their prime. That model is long past obsolete.

Unfortunately, there are still people who believe that AOL is the internet. I don't hang out with any of them, but I know a few.