Sclavos out as VeriSign chief

Sclavos has been replaced by William A. Roper Jr.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.

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

"VeriSign is a highly respected company with an attractive business model and leading positions in growing markets. The board remains committed to our strategy and is pleased with the early results of the restructuring program we began this year," he said in a statement.

"I look forward to working with VeriSign’s management team to capitalise on the company’s growth opportunities while ensuring the strongest possible emphasis on managerial discipline and execution."

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 that the reorganisation 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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