McAfee names new president and CEO

By Ericka Chickowski on Mar 6, 2007 12:55AM

McAfee's board of directors named Dave DeWalt as McAfee's new chief executive officer and president, the company said today in a late-afternoon announcement.

The positions have been open since October 2006, when former CEO and chairman George Samenuk resigned and former president Kevin Weiss was fired.

The sudden departures came in the wake of a stock options scandal that has led to the investigation of more than a decade worth of McAfee trading practices and an earnings restatement that is expected to be between US$100 and US$150 million. The scandal has also prompted former employees to file suit over options grievances.

DeWalt will be expected to help pick the company up after the tumult. As vice president and president of Customer Operations for EMC Corporations, DeWalt oversaw customer operations worldwide and also managed the Documentum content management business. Prior to that, he was president of the EMC Software Group, a multi-billion dollar software division of EMC.

DeWalt will take over leadership of McAfee effective 2 April. His predecessor Dale Fuller, who served as interim president and CEO, will resign on 1 April, but will remain for a period of time to assist with the transition and will continue to serve on McAfee’s board of directors.