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Enrique T. Salem to replace John W. Thompson as President and Chief Executive Officer at Symantec!

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:November 19, 2008

Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced that John W. Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer, will retire as CEO at the end of the fiscal year. The board of directors has appointed Enrique T. Salem, Symantec’s chief operating officer, as president and chief executive officer effective April 4, 2009. Following the transition, Thompson, 59, will remain chairman of the board and Salem, 43, will join the board of directors.

“I am proud of our team’s accomplishments over the past 10 years as we’ve transformed the company from a consumer software publisher to the leader in Internet security, data protection and storage management,” said Thompson. “I’ve always believed planning for succession was a critical part of my role and, for the past two years, have been working with the board on a thoughtful succession plan. Through that process, Enrique emerged as the right person to lead the company and I am confident in his ability to continue to drive the success of our team.”

“Over the past 10 years, John has led the effort to diversify Symantec’s customer base and has grown the company’s revenue tenfold. The board appreciates all he has done for Symantec and his leadership in driving the succession planning process,” said Robert S. Miller, lead independent director of Symantec’s board. “We are grateful that John will remain chairman of the board and work with the team to ensure a smooth transition.”

Salem has been an integral part of the Symantec leadership team and has worked closely with John the past few years to set the company’s strategic direction. In January 2008, Salem was appointed chief operating officer responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations, global product development, sales and marketing. His appointment to chief operating officer was a critical step in the succession planning process. During the past year, he leveraged R&D investments to enhance integration across the portfolio and established a common set of metrics to improve execution and drive results. Salem will continue in his current role as chief operating officer until the end of the fiscal year.

Prior to being named chief operating officer, Salem held a number of important roles at Symantec, including senior vice president of the security products and solutions group, group president of the consumer business unit and group president of worldwide sales and marketing.

“Enrique is a strong leader with extensive knowledge of our business and great relationships with our customers and employees,” said Miller. “His breadth of experience throughout his career and the depth of his knowledge about Symantec uniquely qualify him to lead the company in its next stage of growth.”

“Symantec has a history of innovation and a solid foundation for growth. I am confident in the team and our ability to execute for our customers,” said Salem. “I am delighted to have this opportunity to lead a great company through its next phase of growth and shareholder value creation.”

Enrique T. Salem

Enrique Salem serves as chief operating officer, with responsibility for global product development, sales, marketing and IT.

Most recently, Salem served as group president, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, and managed global sales and partner programs, marketing, communications and branding. Previously, Salem was group president, Consumer Business Unit, with responsibility for the overall consumer business worldwide. In this role, Salem was responsible for engineering, sales, alliances, marketing, public relations and customer care.

Prior to that, Salem was Symantec’s senior vice president of Security Products and Solutions, leading Symantec’s security product group including both enterprise and consumer. Before that, he led the Network and Gateway Security Solutions group.

Before joining Symantec, Salem was president and CEO of Brightmail, the leading anti-spam software that was successfully acquired by Symantec in 2004. Before Brightmail, he served as senior vice president of products and technology at Oblix Inc., where he spearheaded corporate strategy and development by leading the company’s engineering, product management, and technology groups. Before Oblix, he was vice president of technology and operations at Ask Jeeves Inc., where he was responsible for the engineering group and the company’s entire IT operation. Prior to that, he led the security business unit at Symantec, helping to grow the unit’s revenue from $200 million to $460 million over a three year period.

Earlier in his career, Salem was a vice president at Security Pacific Merchant Bank, where he led projects for the development of real-time trading systems.

Salem received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Dartmouth College. He was named 2007 Corporate Executive of the Year by Hispanic Net as well as 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young.

John W. Thompson

John W. Thompson is chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of Symantec Corporation. Under Thompson’s leadership, Symantec has grown from a small consumer software publisher to a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions. Through a combination of strategic acquisitions, strong technology partnerships and organic development, Symantec has grown to become the fourth largest independent software company. With its broad portfolio of products and services, Symantec helps consumers and enterprise customers secure and manage their information assets.

In September 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Thompson to the National Infrastructure Advisory Committee (NIAC), to make recommendations regarding the security of the critical infrastructure of the United States. In addition, Thompson has served as the chair of the Silicon Valley Blue Ribbon Task Force on Aviation Security and Technology to identify and evaluate technology-driven solutions to improve the security and efficiency of national and local aviation.

Prior to joining Symantec, Thompson had a distinguished career with the IBM Corporation where he held senior executive positions in sales, marketing and software development. In his last assignment, he was general manager of IBM Americas and a member of the company’s Worldwide Management Council.

He serves as a director on the corporate boards of UPS and Seagate Technology. In addition, he serves on the board of Teach for America, an organization dedicated to eliminating educational inequities for all children. He completed his undergraduate studies at Florida A&M University and holds a master’s degree in management science from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

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