DETROIT - AutoNation, moving to advance its marketing efforts to include enhanced mobile applications and social media, named former Facebook executive Alison H. Rosenthal to its board of directors Monday.

Her appointment will expand the AutoNation board to ten members, the nation's largest dealership group said.

"Alison's technology experience, especially in the areas of mobile applications and social media, will be a valuable resource for the board," AutoNation Chairman and CEO Mike Jackson said in a statement.

Rosenthal, 34, held key business development posts from February 2006 through January 2011 at Facebook, including oversight of the social media site's ties with over 300 mobile operators around the world, reported Automotive News.

When she left Facebook in January, Rosenthal told allthingsd.com that she wanted "to explore other start-ups and extend the social Web in new directions outside of Facebook's core mission."

She is also a former associate at General Atlantic Partners, a private equity fund focused on information technology, and served as an analyst at investment banking firm Goldman, Sachs & Co. from July 1998 until July 2000.