Kaleyra CEO Dario Calogero leaves post

  • After 23 years in the position
  • Praise and thanks for Calogero
  • Search for a successor
  • Calogero will remain as Chief Strategy Officer at Kaleyra
  • Calogero said 128 words

(exechange) — New York, December 12, 2022 — Dario Calogero, chief executive of Kaleyra, leaves his position. As announced by Kaleyra Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Monday, December 12, 2022, Dario Calogero leaves his post as chief executive officer at the enterprise Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) business, after 23 years in the role, effective when the board selects a new CEO.

It is the end of an era.

The average tenure of CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 8.3 years. Around 6% of CEOs left their posts after more than 20 years. This is according to data collected by CEO-exit research firm exechange.

exechange tracks CEO departures at the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., examines the reasons CEOs leave and determines the Push‑out Score™, a measure of pressure on departing chief executives on a scale of 0 to 10.

Kaleyra stated: “Mr. Calogero will continue his service to the Company as a director and will remain in his role as the Company’s CEO to support the leadership transition and ensure continuity and stability until the Board selects a new CEO.”

Kaleyra will undertake a search for a successor.

“To reposition the Company for sustainable growth and value creation”

Kaleyra did not give an explicit reason for Dario Calogero’s departure from the CEO post. Kaleyra said: “Kaleyra, Inc. (NYSE: KLR) (NYSE American: KLR WS) (“Kaleyra” or the “Company”), an enterprise Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) business, today announced a CEO transition plan and significant enhancements to its Board of Directors (the “Board”) to reposition the Company for sustainable growth and value creation.”

The top three reasons cited in corporate announcements for CEO departures over the past 12 months are performance issues (25.6% of cases), implementation of a planned succession (16.7%) and the statement that the time was right for a change (8.6%), according to exechange data. Other motives given for leadership changes included the outgoing CEO’s wish to pursue other opportunities (6.5% of cases), personal reasons (3.1%) and conduct issues (2.5%). Rather rarely stated reasons are health problems (2.2% of cases), career change (2.2%), the desire for more time with family (0.9%), disagreement (0.6%) and death (0.6%). Sometimes, more than one reason was given. In 30.6% of cases, no reason was given.

Calogero will remain as CSO at Kaleyra

Kaleyra stated: “Upon the appointment of Mr. Calogero’s successor, Mr. Calogero will transition to the newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer, in which he will focus on organic and inorganic growth strategies for the Company.”

“Step down”

Kaleyra said: “Kaleyra has announced that Mr. Dario Calogero, its founder and Chief Executive Officer, has notified the Board of his intention to step down from his position as CEO of the Company after serving over 20 years in the role.”

Share price decline since December 2021

The announcement follows a decline in Kaleyra Inc.’s share price of 89% since December 2021.

In the position of CEO since 1999

Dario Calogero became CEO of the Company in 1999.

Dario Calogero has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Kaleyra S.p.A and a member of Kaleyra S.p.A.’s board of directors since the company was founded in 1999.

He became a director and Chief Executive Officer of Kaleyra upon the closing of the acquisition of Kaleyra S.p.A. by GigCapital, Inc. (the “Business Combination”).

As a serial entrepreneur, he bootstrapped Kaleyra from its inception, quickly positioning the company in the mobile banking space, and leading Kaleyra as it expanded its product offerings and completed several acquisitions.

Prior to founding Kaleyra, Calogero held executive positions with Oracle, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and management consulting companies including PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Calogero holds a master’s degree in economics from Bocconi University in Milan.

128 words by Dario Calogero

In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of Kaleyra Inc., Dario Calogero received praise and thanks.

In the announcement of the leadership change, Dario Calogero said 128 words.

“The timing is right to bring in additional leadership”

Dario Calogero stated: “Two decades after building Kaleyra from a start-up to its current status as a global company, I believe that the timing is right to bring in additional leadership to guide Kaleyra through its next phase of growth. I am excited to be able to return more of my focus to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Company as Chief Strategy Officer, while strengthening the leadership team with new energy and ideas by relinquishing my role as CEO. I am extremely proud of the foundation we have built, with a global partner base and an omni-channel suite of powerful, secure and reliable tools to bridge the communication divide between brands and their customers. As a founder, director, Chief Strategy Officer and large shareholder, I look forward to Kaleyra’s bright future.”

Over the past 12 months, 26% of all outgoing CEOs remained silent in the departure announcement, according to data compiled by exechange. Departing CEOs who did make a statement said an average of 109 words. The longest statement was 382 words. The shortest statement was 23 words. Leadership transitions in which departing CEOs provide conspicuously short, excessively long or no explanations for their move are statistically associated with elevated pressure and show an increased incidence of Push-out Scores above the critical threshold of 5. In contrast, leadership changes are statistically associated with low pressure when departing CEOs speak more about their successors than their successes.

32% of CEOs are forced out or fired

When CEO departures are announced, exechange determines the Push-out Score on a scale of 0 to 10 to assess how likely it is that the chief executive was pushed out or felt pressure to leave the position, with 0 being most likely a voluntary move and 10 being most likely a forced exit. Anything over a 5 indicates that there are valid reasons to believe an executive may have been pushed out.

Of the 324 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (December 12, 2021, to December 11, 2022), the average Push-out Score was 5.5, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When time with family, performance issues or other opportunities were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.

Around 32% of the CEO departure events from the past 12 months received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher.

In other words, in the past 12 months, three in 10 departing CEOs were forced out or fired.

Pressure in the information technology sector well above the critical threshold

Some industries are under generally higher pressure than others, and CEOs are feeling the strain. In the past 12 months, the communication, consumer staples and health care sectors showed the highest average Push-out Scores. By contrast, pressure on CEOs was lowest in the real estate, financials and industrials sectors, as measured by average Push-out Scores.

In the information technology sector, which includes Kaleyra Inc., the average Push-out Score over the past 12 months was 6.1, which is well above the critical threshold of 5.

In the information technology sector, 18 exiting CEOs received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher over the past 12 months, indicating that they were most likely forced out or faced strong pressure to step down.

Push-out Score for Dario Calogero’s move determined

The Push-out Score regarding Dario Calogero’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.

exechange reached out to Kaleyra and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.

Read the full story in the exechange report 51.2022 ($).