By Will Sturgeon, 21 October 2005 17:40
NEWS SurfControl's former CEO Steve Purdham has severed all his executive ties with the company. The move is in keeping with a move by SurfControl away from its UK roots but Purdham has denied this is a negative cull of the UK operations.
In July the British founder ended his tenure as CEO and was replaced with former Sun and Salesforce.com exec Patricia Sueltz. The firm also switched its headquarters from the UK to California.
Now Purdham is set to leave the board entirely, having served briefly in the twin role of CTO and chief strategy officer but he told silicon.com he will take up a non-executive seat on the board.
Purdham said: "It's not a negative 'clearout'. This is simply execution of succession planning that started as long ago as last September.
"SurfControl has built something that is special for a UK company. I am proud to pass on the 'baton'."
He added: "I am going to remain involved as a non-exec board member."
This latest shake-up has also seen the company dispense with the services of another senior UK exec, Patrick Jolly, who headed up the company's acquisition strategy.
At the time of Sueltz's installation as CEO, the company also severed ties with UK public relations firm Berkeley and parted company with its UK-based head of marketing Martino Corbelli.
Last week Sueltz appointed former Salesforce.com colleague and fellow Sun alumnus Max Rayner as CIO.
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1. Alberto Cuneo
Surely this is a sign of a company having problems. The new CEO is falling in the tracks of the last failed leader and hiring those who followed her from Sun and Salesforce. It failed when the last US President filled middle and upper management with former SCO managers. There was minimal success with that approach. Why would the same failed plan work now? The product is overpriced and overrated. Thus far Q1 2006 illustrated weak performances. The new CIO/Customer advocate seems to be nothing more than a PR position for a company that puts little value in its existing customer base. When customers realize the subscription renewals are 75% of the new licensing, the CIO/Customer Advocate will have a great deal to convince resellers and end-users that this company has a long-term goals. The "innovative" new licensing is purly a way of manipulating the customer number. The truth will come out in the new business dollars and the recurring renewal businesses. And as long as SurfControl competes with resellers in this arena and with the 75% renewal fees, I question just how long the self-reported 70-80% renewal rate will continue. Our company is actively pursuing other filtering companies that are 100% reseller focused and that are keeping up with the security needs and the IT team needs. Purdham was the CEO. He did not create the structure licensing or the competition between resellers or resellers vs SurfControl.