Juniper Networks has a new CEO after the sudden resignation of Shaygan Kheradpir after just under a year in the top chair.
In a statement the company said this week the resignation “follows a review by the board of directors of his leadership and his conduct in connection with a particular negotiation with a customer. The board and Kheradpir have different perspectives regarding these matters. The board’s review will not result in any adjustments to the Company’s financial statements.”
The new chief executive is Rami Rahim, a 17-year Juniper Networks veteran, who had been executive vice president and general manager of development and innovation.
“Rami is the right chief executive officer to lead Juniper,” chairman Scott Kriens said in a statement. “He is a talented leader who brings deep instincts about the networking industry, and enormous support from our employees and our customers. Rami has succeeded at every challenge he’s ever taken on at Juniper, and we couldn’t be more excited about his ability to lead this company.
Kheradpir, a former CIO, had been chief operations and technology officer for British bank Barclays PLC before joining Juniper. He replaced Kevin Johnson, who announced his retirement in July, 2013.
In a column for Networkworld U.S., industry analyst Zeus Kerravala said Rahim has “certainly paid his dues and may very well make a good leader. However, based on the last two executives, I thought the board was looking to bring new ideas and new skills into the company. Rahim has a lot of great qualities, but it’s hard for me to see how he brings a fresh perspective into Juniper given that it’s the only place he’s worked for the past 17 years. Perhaps the Juniper board decided that the talent within the company is fine and the next executive leader should come from those ranks.”
This is a critical point in Juniper’s history, he added, because the telecom sector is struggling and Juniper’s roots are in sales to carriers. It is trying to focus more on the enterprise and security. But, Kerravala wrote, “the security business is constantly under fire from the many startups in the market today, and the growth in the Ethernet switch business has slowed down. I know several investors who would like to see Juniper retrench and go back to being a carrier-only company, so there may be some tough decisions ahead.”