Silverman was most recently executive in residence at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, whose portfolio includes Facebook, Pandora, Groupon, LinkedIn, One Kings Lane and Zipcar.
Until mid 2010, he served as the CEO of Skype where he led the company’s revitalization as it prepared its spin-off from eBay.
Prior to Skype, he was a senior executive at eBay from 2003-2008, where he led a number of acquisitions and expanded the company’s classified advertising businesses in Europe. He then became CEO of eBay’s Shopping.com site.
One of Silverman’s first entrepreneurial ventures was as CEO and co-founder of Evite, a social event planning site, until it was sold to IAC in 2001.
American Express vice chairman Ed Gilligan said In Josh the company have found an executive with a track record as both a visionary entrepreneur and an effective leader for amazing growth companies.
"This, combined with his consumer experience and digital marketing expertise, makes him an ideal fit for American Express as we think about the current and future opportunities for our company," Gilligan said.
