Linda Yaccarino, who resigned as CEO of Elon Musk's X, made her mark on Long Island

Charlie Cobb, principal of Deer Park High School, turned to the yearbooks stored in his office on Wednesday upon learning that Elon Musk's second-in-command at X, CEO Linda Yaccarino, had resigned.

Yaccarino, 62, had a long career as an advertising executive before Musk hired her in 2023 to run the business side of X. She got her start at Deer Park High, where she graduated in 1981.

Cobb, who has led the school for more than nine years, said he first heard the news of Yaccarino 's departure during a routine meeting with one of his associate principals.

“One of my APs told me they had seen the news on Twitter,” Cobb said outside the school’s main entrance on Falcon Place, referring to X by its former name.

“So, I picked up the [1981] yearbook to familiarize myself with what [Yaccarino] had done here. … I did the same thing when she became CEO two years ago,” he recalled. “I don’t think a lot of people know that she went to school here.” 

In her resignation post on X, Yaccarino, who has a house in Woodbury, gave no reason for her leaving. 

“When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company," Yaccarino wrote on Wednesday. "I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.”

Musk responded in an X post, “Thank you for your contributions.”

Neither Yaccarino nor Musk could be reached for comment.

Musk hired Yaccarino in June 2023 to oversee the business operations of X, while he concentrated on product design and new technology. He had purchased the social media platform in late 2022 for $44 billion.

Yaccarino had spent nearly a dozen years leading ad and client partnerships at NBCUniversal. She also worked at Turner Broadcasting System Inc. for 20 years in advertising, marketing and acquisitions.

Yaccarino and Musk reportedly hit it off when she pledged that NBCUniversal would continue to advertise on Twitter when others deserted the platform after Musk cut much of the staff and controversial content was posted without restriction.

Yaccarino’s resignation comes as X, which is now part of Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, is contending with its chatbot Grok producing antisemitic posts, including praise for Adolf Hitler.

Yaccarino’s departure also coincides with Musk's electric vehicle company, Tesla, facing consumer backlash because of his work in President Donald Trump's second administration. Musk briefly led the new federal agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is implementing deep cuts to the federal civil service.

Dan Ives, head of tech research and senior stock analyst at Wedbush Securities, said Yaccarino “navigated a lot of the headwinds to get Twitter and X to stability. Her leaving is a huge loss for the platform, and for Elon himself, because I think Elon and Linda worked very well together,” said Ives, who follows Musk's empire.

The timing of Yaccarino’s resignation isn’t ideal.

“This comes at exactly the wrong time because Musk continues to have so many demands on his schedule, and some of that is self-created with [his] involvement in politics. The last thing he wanted to see was Linda leave,” Ives told Newsday.

At Deer Park High, Linda Yaccarino and her twin sister, Lori, were student leaders.

The former was elected vice president of the senior class and the latter was elected treasurer. The pair also played messenger girls in “The Odd Couple,” the senior play in 1981, according to the yearbook.

Linda Yaccarino was co-captain of the varsity cheerleading squad, the Falconettes, and was a member of the Italian Club, the yearbook states.

The Yaccarinos were “very popular girls” who were part of the in-crowd, recalled classmate Tony Russo in a Newsday interview two years ago. He couldn’t be reached for comment. 

After graduation, Linda Yaccarino attended Pennsylvania State University, where she earned a degree in broadcast communications in 1985, according to a Deer Park High reunion booklet.