Novell Changes Leadership, Sticks to Linux Course

Wow, this is certainly one rough way to make a statement with a company! Personally, I am skeptical about the value of firing these guys. Obviously they have done fairly well thus far, why fire them?

Novell announced June 22 that its board of directors has fired CEO Jack Messman and Chief Financial Officer Joseph Tibbetts Jr. In Messman’s place, the board appointed Ronald Hovsepian, who had been president and chief operating officer since October 2005.

Messman, who had presided over Novell since 2001 when Novell acquired his Cambridge Technology Partners company, and Tibbetts left Novell June 21. In Tibbetts’ place, Dana Russell, Novell’s current vice president of finance, has been appointed interim CFO. Messman will remain on Novell’s board of directors until Oct. 31.

Novell also announced that Thomas Plaskett, a director of Novell since November 2002 and former CEO of both Pan Am and Continental Airlines, was elected nonexecutive chairman of the Novell board.

“The board concluded that a management change would be the best way to accelerate the execution of our growth strategy and build value for shareholders,” Plaskett said. “Ron [Hovsepian] is the ideal choice to lead the company as we continue with our transition to Linux-based products and identity and resource management and leverage our unique support of mixed-source environments.”… Source: eWeek

[tags]novell,linux,cfo,leadership,cambridge technology partners[/tags]