He wrecked OS/2's chances in the market, and he drove Symantec into the ground. Their products have been of poor quality for years, and like sieves when it comes to capturing malware.
Strange he was kept for so long.
But, so long. Maybe Symantec can recover but it won't be easy. They'll have to buy a lot of competition to bring in anything good.
Symantec on Monday named board member Steve Bennett as chairman, who will succeed former CEO John Thompson, who chose not to stand for re-election “to pursue other business and personal interests.”
Bennett will assume the position on Oct. 25.
“With the impact of mobile, cloud, virtualization and the continued escalation of the threat landscape, there are a number of exciting growth opportunities ahead for Symantec,” Bennett said in a statement.
Bennett joined Symantec’s board of directors in February 2010; he was previously president and CEO of Intuit, where he led the company to grow from less than $1 billion in revenue in 2000 to $2.7 billion in 2007, expanding operating profits and margin along the way.
He’s also a 23-year veteran of General Electric, where he held numerous positions in various divisions.
“Steve’s leadership and expertise in delivering technology across the enterprise, small and mid-sized business and consumer markets will be a valuable asset in guiding Symantec’s future direction,” Thompson said in a statement.
Bennett serves on boards at American Airlines (and parent company AMR), Qualcomm and insurance software provider Vertafore.
