Riverbed names new CEO as co-founder and chief exec Jerry M. Kennelly retires

Riverbed has appointed Paul Mountford as its new CEO, taking over from Jerry M. Kennelly, who is retiring after heading the firm since he co-founded it in 2002.

Mountford joined Riverbed about four years ago as SVP and chief sales officer, leading the transformation of the global sales organisation and partner program as Riverbed evolved into a multi-product platform company.

Mountford was appointed as Riverbed CEO following an internal and external search by the Riverbed Board of Directors. Mountford will assume the position of CEO immediately, and Kennelly will serve in an advisory role in April, supporting Paul and Riverbed during the leadership transition.

Riverbed said Mountford played a key role in the execution of its multi-year digital performance strategy, which included several strategic acquisitions, organic development of digital performance and cloud-based features and functionality, and integration across multiple services.

“Riverbed is experiencing significant market momentum in today’s digital world, and I’ve never been more confident about the future of our company and opportunities ahead,” said Kennelly. “After 40+ years in the tech industry, and with Riverbed in a strong position, the time is right for me to retire and hand the reins over to a proven leader in Paul Mountford. Paul has the experience, leadership capabilities, customer-focus and passion to lead Riverbed through the next phase of growth while continuing to surpass our customers’ expectations.”

“Riverbed is an incredible company with a history of driving disruptive innovation in the market, and I’m honoured to lead this team as the next CEO,” said Paul Mountford, CEO, Riverbed Technology. “We have an extraordinary opportunity in front of us to lead businesses forward as they modernise their IT architecture to take full advantage of cloud and mobile technologies and accelerate their digital strategies. Jerry has created a fantastic culture at Riverbed built on collaboration, customer-centricity, innovation, and community, and I look forward to further building on this culture with the thousands of employees and partners we have around the world.”

Prior to Riverbed, Mountford was CEO at Sentillian, a New York-based web intelligence startup focused on monitoring publicly shared content. He also spent 16 years at Cisco in senior leadership roles, including running its US$34 billion Enterprise line of business, initiating and leading its Emerging Markets division, and rebuilding and running the firm’s market-leading channel partner program from 2001 to 2006.

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