RealNetworks announced today it has added veteran Microsoft engineering executive Chris Jones to its board of directors.
Jones has been with Microsoft since 1991. He held several program management and engineering positions before becoming a Windows corporate vice president in 2000. Over the next 15 years he led teams on a variety of products including OneDrive, SharePoint, Windows Services, and Windows. He has led Microsoft Health’s engineering team since last October.
RealNetworks has seen a lot of change in recent years, seeking to regain its footing in the tech industry. Its founder, Rob Glaser, returned to the company in 2012 as interim CEO and two years later became the permanent CEO. Glaser founded RealNetworks in 1994 and served as its CEO until 2010.
Earlier this year, RealNetworks announced a reorganization of its corporate staff, which included promotions of several executives and the addition of new chief technology officer Reza Rassool, a startup veteran who previously worked with companies such as DirectTV, CBS and Panasonic.
RealNetworks was an early pioneer in the streaming media category. In recent years, the company has come out with a series of new products building on the RealPlayer brand, including the RealTimes photo and video montage app, and technology called RealMedia that can be embedded into chipsets to improve mobile video streaming. The company posted a $15 million net loss in the first quarter, an improvement from its loss of $24.5 million a year earlier.
