- Push-out Score determined
- After almost 11 years in the position
- Praise and thanks for Thompson
- Sudhakar Ramakrishna taking over
(exechange) — Austin, Texas, December 9, 2020 — Kevin Thompson, chief executive of SolarWinds, leaves. As announced by SolarWinds Corp. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, Kevin B. Thompson leaves his post as chief executive officer of the provider of IT management software after almost 11 years in the role, effective December 31, 2020.
Kevin Thompson’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Sudhakar Ramakrishna, most recently Chief Executive Officer of Pulse Secure, LLC.
The fact that Kevin Thompson’s successor is brought in from outside suggests that the board may seek to stimulate change with fresh ideas and new initiatives.
“Accelerate our focus on customer success”
SolarWinds did not give an explicit reason for Kevin Thompson’s departure from the CEO post, leaving room for speculation. Sudhakar Ramakrishna said: “I am honored to have the opportunity to work with the excellent team at SolarWinds to accelerate our focus on customer success, as we deliver solutions to serve the emerging needs of IT, Application and Security professionals even as they adapt to an increasingly hybrid world.”
Precise information regarding Kevin Thompson’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Resignation”
SolarWinds said: “Mr. Ramakrishna will replace Kevin B. Thompson, who, in connection with Mr. Ramakrishna’s appointment, tendered his resignation from the Board, effective December 31, 2020.”
SolarWinds also filed a form with the SEC to potentially spin out the IT management company’s SolarWinds MSP software business.
Thompson’s departure as well as the SEC filing were not surprising, based on earlier SolarWinds disclosures.
Share price increase since December 2019
The announcement follows an increase in SolarWinds Corp.’s share price of 25% since December 2019.
Chaired by Bill Bock
Bill Bock serves as SolarWinds Corp.’s Chairman.
William Bock has served on the Company’s Board since October 2018.
In the position of CEO since 2010
Kevin Thompson became CEO of the Company in 2010.
Kevin B. Thompson is the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
He has served as the Company’s President since January 2009 and the Company’s Chief Executive Officer since March 2010.
He previously served as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer from July 2006 to March 2010 and the Company’s Chief Operating Officer from July 2007 to March 2010.
Prior to joining the Company, Thompson was Chief Financial Officer of Surgient, Inc., a privately held software company, from November 2005 until March 2006 and was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at SAS Institute, a privately held business intelligence software company, from August 2004 until November 2005.
From October 2000 until August 2004, Thompson served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), an enterprise software company.
Thompson holds a B.B.A. from the University of Oklahoma. Thompson has served on the board of directors of BlackLine, Inc. (Nasdaq: BL) since September 2017.
He previously served on the board of directors of Instructure, Inc. (NYSE: INST) prior to its take private transaction, the board of directors of NetSuite, Inc. (NYSE: N) prior to its acquisition by Oracle Corporation and the board of directors of Barracuda Networks, Inc. (NYSE: CUDA).
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding the management change on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to SolarWinds and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 50.2020 ($).