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Investing.com -- F5 Networks Inc (O:FFIV), a Seattle-based multinational Application Delivery Networking technology company, announced on Monday that John McAdam, chairman of its Board of Directors, will replace Manuel Rivelo as the company's CEO in a move that will be effective immediately.
F5 Networks emphasized in a statement released on Monday afternoon that Rivelo resigned from his position for matters regarding "personal conduct issues unrelated to the operations or financials of the Company." Alan Higginson, who currently serves as F5’s Lead Independent Director, has been appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, the company said.
“The Board believes John is best suited to lead the Company as F5 continues its evolution to expand our offerings and grow across our product suite. As a longtime 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,” said Mr. 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.”
Rivelo was named F5's CEO in April, three months before McAdam entered retirement. McAdam, who was named to Business Insider's 2013 list of the 50 Most Powerful People in Enterprise Tech, previously spent 15 years with the company, helping it increase annual revenue from $108.6 million to close to $2 billion per year.
“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," McAdam said. "I am excited about the opportunities F5 has before it in new hybrid cloud architectures, application security and to capitalize on emerging technology trends."
Rivelo's departure marks a stunning fall for an executive who helped F5 Networks morph into one of the top emerging companies throughout the world. In 2011, the company received inclusion on Fortune's list of the 100 Fastest-Growing Companies worldwide. A year earlier, the company was also ranked as one of the top ten performing stocks by S&P 500 in 2010. Two years later, F5 gained headlines for powering the network used by the Democratic National Committee for its 2012 convention ahead of the November U.S. presidential election.
Shares in F5 Networks inched down by 0.01 or 0.01% to 96.30 in after-hours trading.