Security Strategy, Plan, Budget

Sclavos out as VeriSign chief

VeriSign today announced a major management shake-up, capped by the resignation of Stratton D. Sclavos, the company's former chairman, president and CEO.

Sclavos has been replaced by William A. Roper Jr. as president and CEO and Edward A. Mueller as chairman.

VeriSign did not give a reason for Sclavos’ departure in a statement released today.

A VeriSign representative could not immediately be reached for comment today.

Roper served as the CFO and executive vice president of Science Applications International Corporation. He has been a VeriSign director since 2003.

"VeriSign has a very attractive business model and is well-positioned for long-term growth. The board and I are firmly committed to VeriSign's business strategy and the exciting growth opportunities in front of us," he said. "For the first 90 days, the management team and I will be intensely focused on driving our business strategy and on operational discipline, as well as completing our stock option review and financial restatement process as soon as possible." 

Mueller served as CEO of Williams-Sonoma, a specialty retailer, from 2003 to July 2006, and previously as chief executive of a number of SBC Communications business units, according to VeriSign.

John Pescatore, Gartner vice president and fellow, told SCMagazine.com today that the reorganization was likely the result of a boardroom struggle and indicates a change of direction for VeriSign.

"This sounds like one of those big boardroom battles where the CEO wants to go one way and someone on the board is vehemently opposed, and the board guy won this time," he said. "When you look at where the CEO has his background, it’s in business-integration services, and not in telecoms or consumer services. So it would seem to indicate they want to move more into business-to-business and telecom services."

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