PowerMoves by Simon Bloch
September 2012
With end of summer upon us, this month’s issue, in addition to the information about leadership changes at Silicon Valley’s technology companies, shares an ongoing debate about the scarcity of general management positions in comparison to the functional management ones. General managers are executives who run stand-alone businesses and control all the resources associated with them. Functional managers are executives who run a piece of a business or a support function.
At one time, general managers were at the center of action. Starting in the 1990’s, many companies evolved to functional structures. As a result of this shift, there are very few general management positions today, and instead the focus is on functional specialization. Talented executives who want to run businesses find these opportunities in smaller companies and start-ups. Corporations wanting to retain talented executives can take steps to give their people general management experience. To get a few ideas, read the complete article: Bring Back the General Manager.
Thanks for reading and as always email me to share your insights. Simon Bloch, Partner, TowerHunter executive search, (650) 937-9150 or [email protected].
Executive Appointments
Leaves and Compensation
Board Appointments and Leaves
About Simon Bloch
TowerHunter and Executives on Lookout
Executive Appointments, Leaves and Compensation
Advent Software announced the appointment of its President, David Peter Hess, 41, as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Hess succeeds Stephanie DiMarco, Founder and CEO who resigned. As CEO of the company, Mr. Hess’ annual base salary will increase to $475,000.
Altera’s executive officer Jordan Plofsky announced his retirement from the semiconductor industry.
Apple announced expansion of its executive management team. Craig Federighi, VP of Mac software engineering, and Dan Riccio, VP of hardware engineering, have been promoted to Senior VPs. They will report directly to Scott Cook. Bob Mansfield, SVP of engineering hardware who had announced his retirement in June, will remain with the company and work on future products.
Applied Micro Circuits announced that the services of Mark Wadlington as VP of Worldwide Sales were terminated. Brocade Communications announced Michael Klayko intending to resign as CEO. He will continue to serve until his successor has been hired. Mr. Klayko will be entitled to an additional lump sum payment of $320,000 in accordance to the transition agreement.
Cisco’s Paul Mountford, SVP who ran global sales to businesses, has left the company amid restructuring. Nick Adamo a SVP in charge of sales to telecommunications-service providers will add the global enterprise group to his responsibilities, bringing the two divisions together under one manager.
Dialogic appointed Kevin Cook, 54, President and COO since 2011, as the CEO. Previously, he served as EVP of Worldwide Field Operations from 2010 until 2011 and SVP of Worldwide Sales and Support in 2008. From 2005 to 2008 Mr. Cook served as VP, North America at Avaya and from 2003 to 2004 as VP of Avaya Global Services. Mr. Cook is entitled to an annual base salary of $500,000 and an annual performance-based incentive bonus of up to $400,000.
Dialogic entered into an agreement with Nick Jensen to resign as the CEO. Jensen is stepping down as CEO after 10 years in the position with Dialogic and affiliated companies. Mr. Jensen will continue to serve on the board and continue as a consultant to the company and will be entitled to consulting fees ranging between $33,333 to $41,666 per month.
Fairchild Semiconductor’s Allan Lam, EVP, worldwide sales and marketing, is departing the company effective immediately.
GigOptix amended employment agreements of Dr. Katz and Messrs. Sacks and Betti-Berutto to provide for a potential tax equalization payment or gross-up payment to the executive. Such a provision is typically referred to as a “280G gross-up” and will only be operative in the event of a Change of Control. Hewlett-Packard announced hiring of Alberto Torres, as SVP to lead the Mobility Global Business Unit reporting to Todd Bradley, head of the Printing and Personal Systems Group. Alberto Torres, most recently oversaw the MeeGo products and platform at Nokia as EVP.
Hewlett-Packard named Mike Nefkens, currently SVP and GM of HP Enterprise Services, to lead the division on an acting basis, while John Visentin, who previously ran the division, will be exiting the firm in order to pursue other interests. Mr. Nefkens will report directly to CEO and President Meg Whitman. Additionally, SVP and CFO Jean-Jacques Charhon of the Enterprise Services, was named CFO for the unit.
Hewlett-Packard announced that Ramón Baez has been appointed to the position of SVP and global CIO. Baez will report to John Hinshaw, EVP, Global Technology and Business Processes. Baez was most recently VP of Information Technology Services and CIO at Kimberly-Clark Corp. Prior to Kimberly-Clark, Baez served as CIO for Thermo Fisher Scientific. He also previously served as CIO and VP at Honeywell International and spent 25 years at Northrop Grumman, where he rose to the level of CIO.
Intevac’s Luke Marusiak, COO, announced his resignation from the company. Kevin Fairbairn, President and CEO, will assume the role of COO on an interim basis.
JDS Uniphase David Vellequette informed of his resignation from the position of CFO. The board appointed Rex Jackson as acting CFO. Mr. Jackson, 52, joined the company in 2011 as SVP, Business Services. Prior, Mr. Jackson served as EVP and CFO at Symyx Technologies.
Oclaro and its CEO, Alain Couder, following the closing of the merger of Oclaro with Opnext, agreed upon a plan by which Mr. Couder will continue as Oclaro’s Chairman and CEO for the next two fiscal years, until 2014, when he will retire from the position of CEO. Under the new agreement, Mr. Couder’s base salary was set at $650,000 per year and he will be eligible for annual bonuses based upon achievement of individual and/or company performance goals. The target bonus will be 100% of his base salary.
OCZ Technology reported that Arthur Knapp Jr., 63, CFO, announced his intent to retire. Mr. Knapp will remain as CFO until his successor is in place.
Pandora Media, announced that its CFO, Steven Cakebread, will be leaving the company later this year. The company and Mr. Cakebread entered into a transition agreement, pursuant to which Mr. Cakebread agreed to ensure an orderly transition while the company searches for a new CFO.
Rambus announced restructuring of the company. The three business units headed by Kevin Donnelley, Paul Kocher and Fefferey Parker, now report to Ronald Black, CEO. Martin Scott takes on a new role of CTO. Jerome Nadel joins the company as CMO. Sharon Holt, SVP and GM of semiconductor business group, would resign from her position. The company and Ms. Holt entered into a separation agreement, under which Ms. Holt will receive cash severance payment equal to Ms. Holt’s base salary for 9 months and continued health insurance coverage for up to 4 months.
Silicon Graphics International approved a cash bonus in the amount of $163,333 to Jorge Titinger. This bonus is payable to Mr. Titinger in accordance with the terms of his employment agreement and his fulfillment of the milestone targets referenced in the agreement.
Symantec approved the compensation terms for Stephen Bennett in connection with his appointment as President and CEO and entered into an employment agreement. According to the agreement, Mr. Bennett will receive an annual base salary of $1,000,000. He is also eligible for an annual bonus with a target amount of 150% of base salary. The actual amount of the annual bonus will be determined based on company’s achievement in fiscal year 2013 of targeted annual revenue (50% weighting); and achievement of targeted annual non-GAAP earnings per share (50% weighting).
Symmetricom approved an executive cash bonus plan for 2013. Under the plan, if the company does not achieve at least 90% of target revenue and 80% of target operating income, no cash bonus will be paid to any executive officer. If the company achieves 125% or more of the financial goals, the cash bonus payment will be up to 150% of the executive officer’s target bonus payment.
Telenav’s Marc Aronson, SVP of Engineering, announced his resignation. Mr. Aronson has agreed to provide consulting services while the company conducts a search for a replacement. Under the agreement, Mr. Aronson will receive a monthly consulting fee equal to $5,000 per month and an additional $250 for every hour that he provides services over the ten hours per month. Y.C. Chao, Vice President of Research and Development, will assume the role of acting head of engineering.
Tessera Technologies announced that it has appointed Richard Neely, Jr. to serve as EVP and CFO after Michael Anthofer resigned as the company’s CFO. Mr. Neely, 58, most recently served as CFO for Livescribe ans as CFO of Monolithic Power Systems and of NuCORE Technology. Mr. Neely will be paid $310,000 per year for his service and will be eligible to receive an annual bonus equal to 60% of his base salary. In connection with Mr. Anthofer’s resignation, he will receive cash severance equal to $374,500 and up to 18 months of continued health coverage. Additionally, Mr. Anthofer will provide consulting services, during which he will be entitled to cash payments of $1,000 a month and a lump sum cash payment of $177,775.
Varian Medical Systems President and CEO, Timothy Guertin, announced that he intends to retire. The company elected Dow Wilson, its EVP and COO, to replace Mr. Guertin. Prior to Varian, Mr. Wilson served as President Corporate of Oncology Systems. Mr. Wilson will receive an annual base salary of $900,000 and will participate in the company’s incentive plan at 113% of base salary. He will remain eligible to the Executive Car Program (subject to a vehicle purchase price limit of $82,000), reimbursement for financial planning services (no dollar limit) and reimbursement for annual medical examinations. Mr. Guertin will provide on-going advice and counsel to the management of the company and will provide transitional support. The company approved a base salary of $952,711 and participation in the management incentive plan for Mr. Guertin in the role as a non-executive employee of the company.
VMware’s Chief Accounting Officer Robynne Sisco resigned from her position to pursue other opportunities.
Yahoo! announced today that Kathy Savitt is joining the company as chief marketing officer, responsible for all worldwide marketing and branding. She will report to Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer. Savitt was most recently founder and CEO of Lockerz. Prior to founding Lockerz, Savitt was executive vice president and CMO of American Eagle Outfitters and has held senior leadership roles at Amazon.com.
Yahoo!’s head of HR David Windley and talent acquisition head Grant Bassett are leaving the company by mutual agreement. Mr. Bassett is replaced by Kristen Robinson on interim basis.
ZipRealty, approved changes to the compensation package for Franklin Davis, President of Brokerage Operations, to include reimbursement for reasonable expenses for travel between Northern California and Virginia for a total of up to $20,000. In addition, the company announced that Jake Stanton has joined ZipRealty as VP Brokerage Operations for the Western United States. In addition, the company entered into a separation agreement with David Rector, former SVP of Finance, to receive severance equal to six months of his current annual base salary of $265,000.
Zynga’s COO and Director John Schappert resigned from his positions as an officer and a director of the company. In addition, Zynga’s Chief Creative Officer Mike Verdu is leaving the company. Zynga is also losing Bill Money, a VP of the company’s game studios, and marketing VP Brian Birtwistle. Zynga reorganized to integrate its Web and mobile units. Chief Mobile Officer David Ko and Steve Chiang, executive vice president of games, will oversee Zynga’s game divisions and report directly to Pincus. Previously they reported to Schappert.
Board Appointments and Leaves
Advent Software appointed Rob Tarkoff to its Board of Directors. Mr. Tarkoff is the President and CEO of Lithium Technologies, that powers Social Customer Experiences for more than 350 iconic brands. Prior to Lithium, Mr. Tarkoff held executive positions at Adobe Systems, EMC, Documentum and Commerce One.
AMD appointed Jack Harding as a director. Mr. Harding serves as the President and CEO of eSilicon Corporation. Before co-founding eSilicon, Harding served as president and CEO of Cadence Design Systems, which acquired his former employer, Cooper & Chyan Technology.
Cisco Systems appointed Marc Benioff, 47, CEO of salesforce.com, and Kristina Johnson, Ph.D., 55, Chief Executive Officer of Enduring Hydro, to its Board of Directors.
Inphi reported that Mr. David Ladd, a member of the board, passed away.
JDS Uniphase Kevin Kennedy notified the company that he will retire from the board.
Lam Research announced that James Bagley, who has served as the company’s chairman of the board of directors for the last 15 years, has decided to retire from the industry, including his position on Lam’s board.
Sigma Designs appointed Maury Austin to serve as a director. Mr. Austin, 54, serves as a strategic advisor for technology-oriented businesses. Mr. Austin previously served as CFO of MIPS Technologies, Portal Software, Southwall Technologies.
SunPower’s director since 2005, Betsy Atkins, notified the company of her decision to resign from the Board of Directors to pursue other business interests.
Tessera Technologies announced today that it has appointed Richard “Rick” Hill and Timothy “Tim” Stultz, Ph.D. to its board of directors. Mr. Hill served as the CEO of Novellus Systems. Dr. Stultz has served as CEO, president and a director of Nanometrics, a leader in process-control metrology and inspection systems used in the fabrication of semiconductors and other devices.
Varian Medical Systems appointed Erich Reinhardt, Ph.D., 65, to Board of Directors of Varian Medical Systems. Erich Reinhardt is a former President and CEO of Siemens Healthcare (formerly Siemens Medical Solutions). He is currently Chairman of Medical Valley Europaische Metropol Region in Nürnberg in Germany.
About Simon Bloch, TowerHunter and Executives on Lookout
Simon leads the Technology practice with focus on C-Level, Vice Presidents, Directors and critical individual contributors across all functions of an organization and works with public, private, startup and international companies. Simon is passionate about connecting great leaders with opportunities and operates on the principals of delivering value, easy to do business with, authenticity, and simply being the best. He can be reached at [email protected] or (650) 937-9150.
TowerHunter is a retained executive search firm with offices in Silicon Valley, Phoenix and Washington DC with hundreds of searches completed over the 10 years of firm’s history. The top reasons firm’s clients value TowerHunter’s services are:
Track record – we have an outstanding track record of 96% placement rate with 99% over one year stay
Business model – pay per performance fee structure with a stay guarantee
Expertise – all partners experienced operational executives and lead all searches
Resources – a comprehensive candidate database with research staff to uncover passive candidates
Communications – we listen, plan, execute and communicate throughout the search process
Executives on Lookout
We constantly receive inquiries from our network of executives that are passively interested in new opportunities. Although, we do not represent individual candidates, from time to time, we facilitate connections between great leaders and opportunities. If interested, contact us at [email protected] or (650) 937-9150.
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