Steve Bennett CEO, Symantec

Symantec Corp. announced that Enrique Salem, president and CEO, has stepped down effective immediately and board of directors has appointed Steve Bennett president and CEO, in addition to his continued role as chairman of the board.

"Enrique Salem has been a significant contributor during his 19 years’ associated with Symantec, including the last three years as CEO," said Steve Bennett, chairman, president, and CEO. "While progress has been made over the last three years in many areas, it was the board’s judgment that it was in the best interests of Symantec to make a change in the CEO."

"My view is that Symantec’s assets are strong and yet the company is underperforming against the opportunity," continued Bennett. "I’m looking forward to working with the team to build upon the significant assets in place to help Symantec accelerate value creation for all of its stakeholders."

"The board’s decision to make a leadership change was not based on any particular event or impropriety but was instead made after ongoing consideration and a deliberative process," said Dan Schulman, Symantec’s newly-appointed lead director. "We are fortunate as a board to be able to name Steve as CEO and achieve continuity in leadership. Steve understands the company well, had a great track record at Intuit and General Electric and is a perfect fit for moving the company forward."

The board also decided at this time to make some changes to its committee composition and leadership.

The board committee will be as follows:

• Audit Committee: V. Paul Unruh (Chair); Frank E. Dangeard; Stephen E. Gillett; Robert S. Miller
• Compensation Committee: Michael A. Brown (Chair); Geraldine B. Laybourne; David L. Mahoney; Dan Schulman
• Nominating and Governance Committee: David L. Mahoney (Chair); Michael A. Brown; Frank E. Dangeard; Robert S. Miller; Dan Schulman

  Steve Bennett joined Symantec’s board of directors in February 2010 and became chairman in 2011. He previously led Intuit serving as president and CEO from 2000 to 2007. At Intuit, he combined the company’s historic and customer-driven expertise with strategic and operational rigor. Intuit revenue grew to $2.7 billion in fiscal 2007 from less than $1 billion in fiscal 2000. Under Bennett’s leadership Intuit grew its existing businesses while simultaneously expanding into new markets, such as online banking and healthcare.

Bennett joined Intuit after a 23-year career at General Electric, where he managed complex and diverse organizations from consumer appliances to financial services. During his career at GE, he held a variety of key management roles in numerous areas of the business, including GE Capital e-Business, GE Capital Vendor Financial Services, GE Electrical Distribution and Control, GE Appliances, GE Medical Systems and GE Supply.

He currently serves on boards at American Airlines and parent company AMR Corporation, along with Qualcomm.

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in finance and real estate.