Dave DeWalt, 42, will join the McAfee team on April 2. He also is expected to be appointed a member of the company's board of directors. Dale Fuller, who served as McAfee's interim president and CEO, will resign his position on April 1. He is expected to stay on and advise DeWalt through the transition period.
"Dave brings strong execution skills, a proven ability to lead top performing teams, and an excellent track record in driving shareholder value to McAfee," said Chuck Robel, the nonexecutive chairman of McAfee, in a written statement.
DeWalt, who reportedly has more than 20 years in the technology industry, was most recently executive VP and president of customer operations for EMC, according to a release from McAfee. There he oversaw worldwide customer operations, including global sales and services. Before that, DeWalt was president of the EMC Software Group, a multibillion dollar software division, where he oversaw business operations, product development, and customer operations. He joined EMC in 2003 when EMC acquired Documentum, a company focused on content management software.
Fuller joined McAfee's board in January 2006, and was named interim president and CEO in October 2006. He will continue to serve on McAfee's board of directors.
Just a week ago, McAfee's former general counsel Kent Roberts was indicted on charges he illegally backdated stock options to secure gains for himself and others, federal prosecutors reported. The backdating occurred in 2000 and 2002, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement. The security software maker fired Roberts in May after an internal review found he was involved in an improper stock option grant episode in 2000.
McAfee is among more than 170 companies involved in internal or federal regulatory or criminal investigations into manipulations of stock-option grants to lock in gains.