CA Taps Another IBM Veteran for CEO

CA named a new CEO this week. William McCracken will replace John Swainson, who retired as CA’s CEO at the close of 2009 after five years at the helm.

McCracken had been serving as executive vice chairman at CA during the five-month period after Swainson announced his impending retirement last September and the CEO search was undertaken.

“We had the benefit of watching him lead the company and it became evident to us that Bill McCracken has the knowledge, industry expertise and experience to take CA to the next level,” said Gary J. Fernandes, lead independent director at CA, who headed the board search committee.

McCracken joined CA’s board in 2005, after a 36-year tenure at IBM, where among other roles he served as a member of the Chairman's Worldwide Management Council and general manager of IBM's printing division. Swainson, who is credited with steering CA through the turbulent years following the legal scandal and ousting of former CEO Sanjay Kumar, was also a longtime IBMer before joining the CA fold.

In addition to announcing McCracken’s new role, CA detailed its third-quarter earnings for the period ending Dec. 31, 2009. The company reported sales of $1.13 billion, up 4 percent from year-over-year. Net income grew 1 percent to $257 million.

“We are very pleased with our third-quarter performance,” said McCracken, in a statement released this week. “We achieved robust revenue growth, improved both GAAP and non-GAAP operating margins by a percentage point year-over-year, and reported strong cash flow from operations of $342 million.”

McCracken also singles out CA for building out its technology over the past few months, including new or updated products across the range of its portfolio. He also touted the acquisitions of NetQoS and Oblicore as strategic investments in CA’s cloud computing initiatives.

“These moves strengthen our position as a leader in next-generation infrastructure management,” he said.
 

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