Former SoftBank COO Nikesh Arora named CEO of Palo Alto Networks
Featured
Palo Alto Networks on Friday announced that its Board of Directors has named former SoftBank executive Nikesh Arora to serve as the company's new CEO and chairman of the Board.
Read also: SoftBank Vision Fund invests $2.25b in GM Cruise
On June 6, Arora will replace Mark McLaughlin, who is transitioning to the role of vice chairman of the Board after serving as CEO since 2011.
Arora served as president and chief operating officer at SoftBank from 2014 until 2016, when he stepped down amid criticism from shareholders over his investments.
Before that, he served as chief business officer at Google. There, as Palo Alto noted, he was "instrumental in growing Google's search business from $2 billion in revenues to over $60 billion in revenues."
The cybersecurity firm stressed Arora's experience in scaling technology businesses and running large organizations.
"Over the course of several quarters, I have been discussing succession planning with the Board and I couldn't be more pleased that we have found a leader in Nikesh who is ideally suited to take the company on the next leg of its journey," McLaughlin said in a statement.