David Flynn CEO of Fusion-io …

Fusion-io announced that co-founder David Flynn, who has served as president of Fusion-io since early last year, has been appointed CEO. Flynn is assuming the operational duties of David Bradford, who has accepted the chairman position.

David Flynn

“I’m excited to lead this incredible team we have assembled here at Fusion-io,” said Flynn. “I’m grateful that I will be able to continue to utilize David Bradford’s many years of experience and that he will remain an integral part of our team as we continue to drive innovation and server consolidation using ioMemory technology. Our key focus over this next phase of growth is to extend our market leadership position with our OEM partners and end customers, as we expand our product offerings to address new market verticals and geographies.”

During his tenure as CEO, Bradford played a significant role in leading the growth of Fusion-io. He brought a new level of teamwork, excitement and talent to the company, including recruiting Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak. As CEO, Bradford was instrumental in securing more than $100 million in venture capital and bank financing. Under the dual leadership of Bradford and Flynn, the valuation of Fusion-io more than tripled. The company was named the most promising venture-backed company for information technology by the Wall Street Journal and the most innovative up-and-comer in the world by BusinessWeek readers.

“It is not very often that you have a chance to make a founder the CEO after the company has achieved success,” said Scott Sandell, general partner at New Enterprise Associates, and lead investor of Fusion-io. “But it is also not very often that you find a leader who can create the vision and the technology, win the trust of important customers and inspire the support of an entire management team. David Flynn is one of those rare leaders.”

“After an extensive search that included interviewing some of industry’s brightest leaders for the job, it was clear to me and the rest of the board of directors that David Flynn was the right person to lead Fusion-io,” said Bradford. “David’s grasp of the technology and the industry is unparalleled, and his passion for the work can be seen in everything he does. Under David’s leadership, I believe this company is poised to fully transform the way data centers are architected.”

“When it comes to a market disruption as profound as the one we’re driving, you won’t find an executive team with more experience than ours. Among these stars, one stands out — that’s David Flynn,” said Rick White, co-founder and board member. “We all know that David is a brilliant technologist, but he has also proven his genius for operational execution over this past year. Like other great founder CEOs, David has the courage and technical know-how to continue driving our innovation in the marketplace while also leading our company towards long-term success.”