AOL announces new board of directors

America Online (AOL) has named nine members to serve on its board of directors, drawing on leaders with expertise in internet, media, entertainment and marketing, as well as finance.

Among the directors named are: Richard Dalzell, Karen Dykstra, William Hambrecht, Patricia Mitchell, Michael Powell, Fredric Reynolds, James Stengel and Jim Wiatt. They will join the AOL Board when the separation from Time Warner is complete, with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong serving as chairman of the board.

Richard Dalzell previously SVP and chief information officer of Amazon.com, Inc., until 2007. Previously, served in numerous other positions at Amazon, including SVP Worldwide Architecture and Platform Software.

Prior to Amazon, Dalzell was VP Information Systems Division at Wal-Mart from 1994 to 1997.

Karen Dykstra is a partner at Plainfield Asset Management LLC, and has been COO/CFO Plainfield Direct Inc. since 2006. Prior to joining Plainfield, Dykstra was the CFO Automatic Data Processing, Inc., a provider of transaction processing and information-based business solutions, from 2003 to 2006. Dykstra serves on the boards of Plainfield Direct Inc., Gartner, Inc. and Crane Co.

William R. Bill Hambrecht founded and has been chairman and CEO of WR Hambrecht + Co since 1998. WR Hambrecht + Co is a financial services firm specializing in internet and auction processes and providing underwriting and advisory services for technology and emerging-growth companies.