CFO Rowghani plays broad role at Twitter

The Apple co-founder wanted to keep Rowghani, then chief financial officer at Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar, from leaving to join Twitter. With Twitter, Rowghani, 39, has assumed a broader range of responsibilities than the typical number-crunching CFO, holding sway over partnerships and global expansion. "Ali's brought terrific business judgment to the company," said Peter Currie, a private investor who is on Twitter's board. For now, the company is focused on attracting users and finding ways to generate revenue from advertisers eager to reach Twitter's audience of more than 140 million people. When the IPO happens, Twitter will probably be the biggest consumer Web company to make a market debut since Facebook, which has lost half its value since it went public May 17. "Like Facebook, Twitter will be a very high-profile consumer IPO and will be scrutinized even more closely as a result of Facebook's missteps," said Lise Buyer, principal at Class V Group in Portola Valley. Rowghani also played a key role in lining up the venture capital round from DST Global and other existing investors that valued Twitter at about $8 billion last year. Striking a balanceWhile he's willing to speak his mind, Rowghani is also affable, with a boisterous laugh that fills conversations at meals, said David Fischer, vice president of business and marketing partnerships at Facebook, who became friends with Rowghani at Stanford.