Ixia is adding more clarity to its tarnished management structure, announcing that it has named HP executive Bethany Mayer as its new president and CEO.
Mayer's appointment signals that Ixia is beginning a new chapter after the departure of former CEO Vic Alston, who was forced to resign in October 2013 after the company's audit committee determined that he misstated part of his academic credentials, age and early employment history. At that time, the committee found that although Alston did attend Stanford University, he incorrectly claimed to have received a B.S. and an M.S. in computer science.
Besides naming Mayer as CEO, Ixia is moving to turn its financial status in the stock market around. In July, the NASDAQ Hearings Panel ruled that it will continue to list Ixia's common stock on the NASDAQ Stock Market ("Nasdaq") if it becomes current in its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by Sept. 12.
Ixia received a noncompliance notice from the Nasdaq stock exchange last November because of its delay in filing its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, 2013.
The day after Ixia becomes current in its periodic filings with the SEC, Mayer will also join Ixia's board of directors.
Errol Ginsberg, Ixia's chairman and acting CEO, said that Mayer's overseeing of HP's software-definable networking (SDN) and network-functions virtualization (NFV) efforts, combined with her 25 years of telecom experience, made her an attractive candidate for the post.
"Bethany was instrumental in pioneering HP's SDN and NFV initiatives, product strategies and ecosystem development, and she possesses a deep knowledge of the network equipment and security markets," Ginsberg said in a release. "Additionally, Bethany is a seasoned leader with a proven track record of achieving sustainable growth while improving organizational efficiencies that deliver bottom-line results."
Before joining Ixia, Mayer served as HP's senior vice president and as the general manager of HP's NFV business. Earlier, Mayer was senior vice president and general manager of the HP Networking Business unit, where under her leadership the business unit delivered 12 consecutive quarters of growth. She also held various management and product-marketing positions at Blue Coat Systems, Cisco and Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL).
For more:
- see the release
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