Online dating and matchmaking site eHarmony on Thursday said that its board has named Jeremy Verba as chief executive.

Verba joins the Santa Monica social networking company from San Francisco social gaming service Zynga, where he was founding general manager of its Treasure Isle title. He was also the general manager of voice services for AOL from 2001 to 2005, a founder and president of E! Online, and vice president of entertainment ventures for CNET.

“Jeremy’s expertise and proven success leading multiple consumer Internet companies makes him an ideal fit to lead eHarmony’s next phase of growth,” founder and Chairman Neil Clark Warren said in a statement.

Verba replaces Greg Waldorf who resigned in January and is now CEO-in-residence of Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley venture firm.

Verba joins eHarmony as the online matchmaking pioneers continues to face increasing competition from general and specialty online dating services both here and overseas. Founded in 2000, eHarmony also operates in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Brazil, and through its affiliation with eDarling, in 11 countries in continental Europe.