Newport-based GoCompare.com has appointed former Facebook director Joe Hurd as an independent non-executive director.

Joe is a Silicon Valley-based angel investor and entrepreneur, serving on the advisory boards of a number of technology companies, including purse.us, Psychability and exciteM.

Until recently, Joe was the director of emerging business at Facebook, where he was responsible for cross-functional strategy, operations and go-to-market planning for Facebook’s advertising monetisation efforts.

Between 2009 and 2012, Joe was an Obama administration appointee, advising the US Secretary of Commerce on trade policy and serving on the White House Business Council.

Prior to this, he held senior business development roles at Gannett Broadcasting, VideoEgg, Friendster and AOL. He started his professional career in London as a corporate securities lawyer at Linklaters.

Joe is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the North American Group of the Trilateral Commission, and is on the board of directors of Bullis Charter School and the American Swiss Foundation.

He received an AB cum laude from Harvard, an MIA from Columbia, and a JD from Harvard Law School. He and his family live in Los Altos, California.

Sir Peter Wood, chairman of GoCompare.com Group plc, said: "I’m pleased to welcome Joe to the board. He has a wealth of experience working with exciting tech companies throughout the world, and he will play a valuable and important role as the group looks to develop its mission of ‘helping people everywhere save time and money’."