Ancestry Appoints Gene Alston to its Board of Directors

LEHI, Utah & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ancestry®, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, today announced the appointment of Gene Alston as an independent member of its Board of Directors, effective immediately.

Alston is currently the Vice President of Commerce Business and Operations at Facebook, where he is responsible for all strategy and teams for commerce products across Facebook’s family of apps, revenue and client satisfaction globally.

“We are excited to welcome Gene to our board of directors. He brings a wealth of industry experience to the role with a focus on high growth, disruptive consumer internet companies,” said Mark Thompson, Ancestry board chair. “Gene’s counsel and expertise will bring energy to our board and strengthen Ancestry’s commitment to bringing diverse perspectives to the table.”

Alston has more than 20 years of business leadership experience and prior to his current role, he led global marketing partnerships at Facebook. Before Facebook, Alston was at Pinterest, Groupon, and PayPal where he led teams and was responsible for business development, partnerships, acquisitions, and international expansion.

Deb Liu, chief executive officer at Ancestry added, “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Gene first at PayPal and again at Facebook. Gene is a thought leader and innovator, and he will bring his breadth of experience in consumer technology to Ancestry as we continue to accelerate growth and empower journeys of personal discovery for millions more people around the world.”

Alston holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Washington and a J.D. and MBA from University of California Los Angeles. Before returning to graduate school, Alston served as a Naval Officer stationed on the USS Worden.

About Ancestry

Ancestry®, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. With our unparalleled collection of more than 27 billion records and over 18 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. For over 30 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.