Board Member Rick Hill Appointed Interim
President and CEO; Greg Clark Steps Down
Seasoned Finance Executive Vincent Pilette
Appointed EVP and CFO
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) (the “Company”) today
announced the following leadership changes:
- Richard S. Hill, current Symantec
director and former Chairman and CEO of Novellus Systems, has been
appointed Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, effective
immediately. Mr. Hill succeeds Greg Clark, who has stepped down as
President and CEO and as a member of the Symantec Board, also
effective immediately. The Company will commence a search process
to find a permanent CEO.
- Vincent Pilette, CFO of Logitech and
former VP of Finance for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s server,
storage and networking business, has been appointed Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of Symantec. He is
anticipated to join the Company on May 21, 2019. Mr. Pilette’s
appointment follows a comprehensive search process initiated in
connection with Nicholas Noviello’s departure as EVP and CFO as
announced on January 31, 2019.
Daniel H. Schulman, Chairman of the Symantec Board of Directors,
said, “Symantec has a significant opportunity to further enhance
shareholder value by continuing to build on the leadership and
momentum of both our Enterprise and Consumer Cyber Safety segments.
As we enter into a new financial year, Greg and the Board agreed
that now is the right time to transition leadership, and we are
confident in Rick’s ability to drive the Company forward while we
work to identify a permanent CEO.”
Mr. Schulman continued, “Rick is a highly-regarded technology
executive with a track record in enterprise computing solutions,
and decades of experience leading public companies in the
semiconductor and systems industries. His years of relevant
leadership experience coupled with his familiarity with our
organization make him a natural fit for the Interim CEO role and
will allow him to seamlessly take on the responsibilities.”
Mr. Hill, who has served as a Director since January 2019 and
who has been named Interim President and CEO of Symantec, said,
“I’d like to thank Greg Clark and the full team at Symantec, who
have done an outstanding job of building a strategy and solutions
that defend enterprises and consumers from the ever increasing
cyber threat landscape. Symantec is the only company in the world
with a platform built on extensive cyber telemetry and advanced
cyber analytics to dynamically defend and inoculate its customers
against sophisticated cyber attacks. I look forward to working
closely with the Board and management team in executing on the
market opportunity within cyber security and am proud to lead
Symantec during this interim time while we transition to permanent
leadership in the Company.”
Mr. Schulman added, “The Board extends its deep appreciation to
Greg for his leadership and contributions to our Company since
becoming CEO. He has led Symantec through a time of great
transformation, including the combination with Blue Coat and the
acquisition of LifeLock, which redefined the cybersecurity
landscape. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Mr. Clark, who has served as CEO since Symantec’s acquisition of
Blue Coat in 2016, said, “It has been a privilege to lead this
great organization and I am proud of all that the team has
accomplished in nearly three years. Together, we’ve built a large
installed base of customers and brought to market some of the
world’s most powerful cyber defense solutions. As Symantec enters
its next phase of growth and value creation, it is the right time
for the Board to identify the next generation of leadership. With
Rick as Interim President and CEO and a world class team in place,
I have no doubt this will be a seamless transition for our
customers, partners, employees and shareholders.”
Mr. Pilette, who currently serves as CFO of Logitech and has
been appointed Symantec’s new EVP and CFO, said, “I join Symantec
with a deep background in operations and as an investor in the
Company. Symantec is known for its R&D strengths, its iconic
brands, and the breadth of its portfolio, and I am eager to work
with the management team to drive growth across our Enterprise and
Consumer segments and deliver value to our customers, partners and
shareholders. Having met Rick three years ago, I continue to be
impressed by his focus on operational excellence and strong record
of execution. I am very pleased to be joining him and the entire
team as we work to enhance our financial and operational
discipline, and improve our results and margins.”
Mr. Hill continued, “Having participated in the CFO search
process in my capacity as a Board member, I am delighted to welcome
Vincent to Symantec. In addition to his financial and operational
acumen, he brings a proven track record of driving results
throughout his decades-long career as a financial executive in the
technology industry, across our Enterprise and Consumer segments. I
look forward to working with Vincent and know he will be an
excellent partner to me and the management team both during this
interim period and for the long term.”
Mr. Hill added, “During the CEO search process and beyond, we
will benefit from our deep bench of leaders, including Art
Gilliland and Samir Kapuria, to help maintain continuity and
leadership across our Enterprise and Consumer organizations. As
Symantec continues to execute our strategy for these pivotal
business segments, I can think of no two better leaders than Art
and Samir to continue driving results and ensuring we achieve the
goal of making our cyber world a safer place.”
Following the changes announced today, the size of Symantec’s
Board has decreased from 13 to 12 members, 11 of whom are
independent.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Financial Results
As announced in a separate press release issued today, Symantec
disclosed financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full
year fiscal 2019, which ended on March 29, 2019. The Company will
host a conference call today, May 9, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. PT to
discuss the leadership transition and financial results.
About Richard S. Hill
Mr. Hill has been a member of Symantec’s Board since January
2019. Mr. Hill has served as Chairman of the board of directors of
Marvell Technology Group Ltd., a semiconductor company, since May
2016 and as a member of the boards of directors of Arrow
Electronics, Inc., an electronic components and enterprise
computing solutions company, since 2006, Cabot Microelectronics
Corporation, a chemical mechanical planarization supplier, since
June 2012, and Xperi, an electronic devices development company,
since August 2012 and as its Chairman since March 2013. Previously,
Mr. Hill served on the boards of directors of several technology
companies, including Autodesk, Inc. from March 2016 to June 2018,
Yahoo! Inc. from April 2016 to June 2017, Planar Systems, Inc. from
June 2013 to December 2015 and LSI Corporation from 2007 to May
2014. Mr. Hill also served as CEO of Novellus Systems, Inc. from
December 1993 to June 2012 and held the title of Chairman/CEO at
Novellus from May 1996 to June 2012. Mr. Hill received a Bachelor
of Science degree in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois
in Chicago and a Master of Business Administration from Syracuse
University.
About Vincent Pilette
Mr. Pilette has substantial expertise as a senior financial
executive of technology companies. He brings over 20 years of
financial management experience in the U.S. and EMEA, most recently
as Chief Financial Officer of Logitech International S.A., from
September 2013 to May 2019. During his tenure at Logitech, he was
responsible for the company’s financial strategies and worldwide
finance organization, managing consolidated revenues of almost
three billion dollars (U.S.), tax, treasury, accounting, financial
planning and analysis, and communication with an international base
of shareholders trading Logitech shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange
and the Nasdaq Global Market. In addition, Mr. Pilette was a key
partner to Logitech’s CEO to shape and direct the implementation of
all aspects of the company’s business strategies. Prior to
Logitech, Mr. Pilette served as Chief Financial Officer of
Electronics for Imaging (EFI), a global technology imaging company,
and as Vice President of Finance for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s
multi-billion dollar server, storage and networking business. He
holds an M.S. in engineering and business from Université
Catholique de Louvain in Belgium and an M.B.A. from Kellogg School
of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago.
About Symantec
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world's leading cyber
security company, helps organizations, governments and people
secure their most important data wherever it lives. Organizations
across the world look to Symantec for strategic, integrated
solutions to defend against sophisticated attacks across endpoints,
cloud and infrastructure. Likewise, a global community of more than
50 million people and families rely on Symantec's Norton and
LifeLock product suites to protect their digital lives at home and
across their devices. Symantec operates one of the world's largest
civilian cyber intelligence networks, allowing it to see and
protect against the most advanced threats. For additional
information, please visit www.symantec.com or connect with us on
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements which may be considered
forward-looking within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities
laws, including statements regarding the Company’s leadership
changes and Symantec’s prospects for growth and value creation.
These statements are subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ
materially from results expressed or implied in this press release.
Such risk factors include those related to: retention of existing
executive leadership team members; difficulties in improving sales
execution and product development during leadership transitions;
general business and economic conditions; our ability to integrate
acquired businesses and realize the expected benefits of the
acquisitions; matters arising out of our completed Audit Committee
investigation and the ongoing U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission investigation; fluctuations and volatility in Symantec’s
stock price; the ability of Symantec to successfully execute
strategic plans; the ability to maintain customer and partner
relationships; the ability of Symantec to achieve its cost and
operating efficiency goals; the anticipated growth of certain
market segments; Symantec’s sales pipeline and business strategy;
fluctuations in tax rates and foreign currency exchange rates; the
timing and market acceptance of new product releases and upgrades;
and the successful development of new products and the degree to
which these products gain market acceptance. Actual results may
differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking
statements in this press release. Symantec assumes no obligation,
and does not intend, to update these forward-looking statements as
a result of future events or developments. Additional information
concerning these and other risk factors is contained in the Risk
Factors sections of Symantec’s most recent reports on Form 10-K and
Form 10-Q.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190509005930/en/
Symantec CorporationLauren Armstrong, 650-448-7352Media
RelationsLauren_Armstrong@symantec.com
Cynthia Hiponia, 650-527-8020Investor
RelationsInvestor_Relations@symantec.com
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