Erika Rottenberg, with Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg. Courtesy photo.

Erika Rottenberg, a lawyer with extensive experience navigating Silicon Valley, has been named as the first general counsel for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The Palo Alto, California-based philanthropic organization was founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan in 2015 to bring together “world-class engineering, grant-making, impact investing, policy and advocacy work,” according to its website.

The nonprofit so far has focused on biomedical research and education and is “exploring” issues like equal opportunity initiatives such as affordable housing and criminal justice reform.

In an April 23 post on LinkedIn, incidentally Rottenberg's former employer, she wrote that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is about the same size LinkedIn was when she joined as its first GC back in 2008.

“Over my upcoming years at CZI, some of the issues I will work on will be familiar, while others will be new, and I'm sure other issues will arise that, today, we can't even begin to imagine,” Rottenberg wrote. “I'm excited about building and leading a legal team that will partner with teams across CZI in helping it achieve its mission of building a future for everyone.”

In a Facebook post the same day, Priscilla Chan noted that Rottenberg “brings a breadth and depth of legal, policy and privacy experience from her more than two decades working with leading technology companies.”

Chan continued, “She is passionate about ensuring access to justice and education, and has a lifelong commitment to social good and philanthropy. I especially love that Erika's undergraduate major was elementary and special education, and that before going to law school, she taught special education for five years in Anchorage, Alaska.”

Rottenberg currently sits on the boards of two public companies: Twilio and Wix.com. After leaving LinkedIn in 2014, she “pressed pause” and assembled a “portfolio career” of acting as a board member and adviser to tech companies and executives, according to her LinkedIn post.

“I didn't think I'd ever want to go back to a full-time single employer role. And then, CZI appeared,” Rottenberg wrote. “Anyone who knows me and who knows the mission of CZI understands that this is something for which I have to 'press play.'”

During Rottenberg's tenure with LinkedIn, she saw the company through a period of growth where revenue climbed from $78 million to more than $2 billion, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also oversaw the legal department through the company's $9 billion IPO in 2011.

Prior to LinkedIn, Rottenberg served as the top lawyer with SumTotal Systems and Creative Labs.

“I'm inspired by the scale of CZI's initiatives, and if I've learned one thing from my time in Silicon Valley, it's how rapidly change can be effected when talented, passionate people and brilliant ideas are given the resources to fly,” Rottenberg said.