Founder, President and CEO David Friend to Leave Carbonite

Carbonite, Inc. announced that founder David Friend will transition out of his role as president and CEO when his successor is named.

 Friend, 66, will remain directly involved with the company after a successor is appointed to ensure a leadership transition.

Upon the appointment of a successor president and CEO, Friend will take on the role of executive COB of directors and serve as an advisor on key strategic initiatives for the company in that capacity.

“Since Carbonite’s inception in 2005, my past nine years as CEO have been nothing short of an incredible journey and I am looking forward to my new role as executive COB,” said Friend. “Now is the right time for the board to select the company’s next leader to drive Carbonite’s continued growth for many years to come. I remain fully committed and will be working side by side with my successor to ensure a smooth transition occurs.”

“As a result of David’s insightful leadership and guidance, Carbonite has transformed from a successful start-up into one of the most admired publicly traded Boston-based tech companies,” said Todd Krasnow, Carbonite’s lead independent director. “The board is committed to conducting a thorough search to identify the right successor. On behalf of the board, the management team, and all Carbonite employees, we thank David for his leadership, and his remarkable dedication as Carbonite’s CEO for nearly a decade. We look forward to David’s continued leadership and vision in his new role as Executive chairman.”

The board has formed a search committee to identify a successor president and CEO and will retain an executive search firm to assist in the process.

Friend has been a technology entrepreneur for over 25 years. After serving as president of ARP Instruments, he co-founded four companies: Sonexis, FaxNet, Pilot Software, and Computer Pictures Corporation. In 2010, he was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Emerging Technology category for the New England Region. He has been featured in USA Today, Tech Capital, The Boston Globe, Mass HiTech, Fortune, Forbes and Tom Peter’s best-selling management book, The Pursuit of Wow!

He has been a lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and is an active supporter of music and the arts in Boston. He is a trustee (emeritus) of the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Yale University and attended the Princeton University Graduate School of Engineering where he was a David Sarnoff Fellow. He is an avid marathoner, distance cyclist, windsurfer, and hiker.