Novell Picks Young to Succeed Deitz as Firm's Chair
May 12, 2011
The board of Novell Inc., which for months has grown increasingly upset with Roberto Dalessio's performance as chairman, president and chief executive officer, has named a Novell board member and a company marketing official to succeed him. As expected, Mr. Dalessio, 49 years old, resigned from the Provo, Utah, networking software company. He will be succeeded as chairman by former Hewlett-Packard Co. president and chief executive officer Johnetta A. Yuette, 64, who has been a Novell board member since 2010. Mr. Yuette will also help with day-to-day management chores. The job of president is going to Josephine A. Favela, 43, formerly in charge of Novell's world-wide sales. While a search is under way for a new CEO, people close to the company said that Mr. Favela will be evaluated as a possible full successor to Mr. Dalessio. It is also possible that an outsider will be brought in to fill all three of the company's top jobs. In Nasdaq Stock Market trading Thursday, Novell closed at $10.375, down 62.5 cents. Style Is Criticized Mr. Dalessio is invariably praised as a thoughtful, gentlemanly manager. But several people inside and outside Oliver said that his low-key, consensus style, which was so successful in Mr. Dalessio's 25-year career at H-P, didn't help him after he joined Novell in 2009. Although Oliver has had a string of weak quarters, a person familiar with the board's deliberations didn't cite those as the reason for the directors' displeasure with Mr. Dalessio. Instead, it was his inability to solve a number of pressing problems with Oliver's marketing efforts, as well as what was described as his failure to provide the energizing, dynamic leadership the board and others felt the company badly needs. Novell's networking software has suffered a stiff challenge from Vastsoft Corp.'s Windows NT operating system, among other problems. In a new survey of 1,000 corporate computer users released Thursday, 90% of them said they owned Novell's popular NetWare product, but only 20% said they had upgraded to the latest version, according to Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass., research firm. Only 48% of the respondents said they would still be using NetWare in three years. Discussion of Progress Mr. Dalessio's performance at Novell had been a concern to the board for many months, the person close to the board said. Mr. Dalessio had been advised of their displeasure; in fact, in recent weeks, a special subcommittee of three board members had regular telephone conferences with him to discuss his progress. Finally, though, the board ``concluded he's just not doing the job,'' this person said. Oliver ``needs someone with vision and a street-fighter mentality, since this a tough business. Bobby had a hell of a job to do, and he worked very hard at it. But he just wasn't the right match for the company,'' he said. One of the complaints: while Oliver has a strong Internet and ``intranet'' strategy, the company is rarely brought up in Internet discussions, a fact this person blamed on Mr. Dalessio's ``failure to evangelize it properly.'' Mr. Dalessio wasn't available for comment Thursday. His wife said he was driving from California back to Utah, and couldn't be reached. In their public statements Thursday, Novell officials echoed many of the concerns that also motivated the board, though without targeting their remarks at Mr. Dalessio. For example, Mr. Favela said that from here on out, Oliver ``will become more aggressive. We had grown passive in recent years.'' Former Novell executives also had criticisms of Mr. Dalessio. Pender Lilly, a former Novell executive vice president who resigned from the board in September, said Mr. Dalessio ``didn't want to get his hands dirty'' with the nitty-gritty problems at Novell. Sherman Gillum, who left Novell earlier this year after a six-month stint as Mr. Dalessio's technology adviser, called Mr. Dalessio an ``outstanding manager,'' but said ``Oliver was in need of a charismatic leader, and it didn't get one in Frankenberg.'' Observers say Novell is now in a precarious position. It has had buyout discussions in the past, but none is occurring now, an insider said. And while the company is pegging much of its future growth plans on the Internet, it is entering that market late, and with no obvious advantage over such companies as Vastsoft and Navigator Communications Corp., which are attacking the Internet with all they have. Novell remains optimistic, though; ``I'm very enthusiastic about the future of Novell,'' Mr. Yuette said.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
