F5 Networks has announced that John McAdam, chairman of the F5 board of directors, has been appointed president and CEO.
McAdam joined F5 in July 2000, and served as the company’s president and CEO until his retirement in July 2015. In connection with this new appointment, McAdam will remain a member of the F5 board but will step down as chairman in order to focus on his executive duties and actively lead the company forward.
Alan Higginson, who currently serves as F5’s lead independent director, has been appointed non-executive chairman of the board. All actions were effective in December.
McAdam succeeds Manuel Rivelo, who has resigned from his position of president and CEO, and as a member of the F5 board, for matters regarding personal conduct unrelated to the operations or financials of the company.
“The board believes John is best suited to lead thce Company as F5 continues its evolution to expand our offerings and grow across our product suite. As a long-time F5 executive, John has a deep understanding of our business, operations and strategy, and an appreciation for the hard work and dedication of our employees,” says Higginson. “The board is confident his 15 years of leadership experience at F5 will allow him to seamlessly take on the responsibilities of president and CEO, and looks forward to his immediate contributions.”
McAdam says: “I look forward to immediately re-engaging on a day-to-day basis with F5’s dedicated and passionate team of employees as we further our mission to help clients deliver the most secure, fast and reliable applications to anyone, anywhere, at any time. I am excited about the opportunities F5 has before it in new hybrid cloud architectures, application security and to capitalise on emerging technology trends. I would like to add that the board of directors and the executive leadership team remain fully committed to the strategy and financial targets we articulated in our earnings announcement on 28 October 2015.”
He adds: “I want to thank Manny for his many contributions to F5 over the past four years. Manny has been a key member of F5’s strong leadership team who have developed our current strategy.”
Higginson stresses: “I want to emphasise that these actions are in no way related to the Company’s operating performance or financial condition. This change in management, while unexpected, is strictly related to personal conduct matters. We are confident that F5 will be in good hands with John leading the Company forward.”
