Facebook has named Kenneth Chenault ’73, H’96 “one of the nation’s most prominent black corporate members…and a highly regarded finance executive,” to its board of directors, USA Today reports. He will be the company’s first African American board member.

Chenault has been CEO and chairman of American Express for sixteen years. He announced in the fall he would be stepping down from this position Feb. 1.

On Feb. 5, his first day with Facebook, Chenault will join Netflix cofounder and CEO Reed Hastings ’83 on the eight-member board.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Chenault has been with American Express since 1981, taking on his current role in 2001.

In 2014, Chenault was included in Fortune magazine’s compilation, “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” in which he was described as “the most accomplished leader in global finance.” Bowdoin awarded him an honorary degree in 1996.

Chenault sits on the board of IBM and Procter & Gamble Co., and is a trustee of the NYU Langone Medical Center. He also took a lead role in raising money for the National Museum of African American History and Culture.