Burlington, MA (February 26, 2018)—Avid’s Board of Directors has terminated chief executive officer Louis Hernandez Jr. and appointed Jeff Rosica as its CEO, effective immediately. Hernandez has additionally resigned from his position on the Avid board of directors and Nancy Hawthorne has been elected chairman of the board.
According to Avid, the termination was due to violations of company policies related to workplace conduct. According to a statement from the company, the move was made with the assistance of independent external legal counsel after a special committee comprising independent members of the board of directors conducted “a thorough investigation into allegations of improper non-financially related workplace conduct by Mr. Hernandez. After reviewing the findings of the special committee’s investigation, the board of directors unanimously concluded that the findings warranted immediate termination of Mr. Hernandez’s employment.”
Assuming the mantle of CEO is company president Jeff Rosica, a three-decade industry veteran who joined Avid in early 2013. Prior to his role as president, he served as senior vice president, chief sales and marketing officer for Avid.
Rosica remarked, “I am honored and excited for this opportunity to lead Avid through this important moment in the company’s history. The outlook for Avid is strong, and I look forward to working with the leadership team, the board and our incredibly talented employees as we execute on our strategic priorities and continue our journey to be a best-in-class company and leader in our industry.”
Hernandez first came to Avid in February, 2013, appointed in the wake of a resignation by the company’s previous president/CEO, Gary Greenfield. Prior to his time at Avid, Hernandez was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Open Solutions, a technology provider for financial institutions.
Under his watch, Avid underwent an often painful consolidation as it shuttered numerous U.S. offices, laying off hundreds of employees in 2016 to move R&D, engineering and customer care services overseas to Taiwan, Poland and the Philippines, though Hernandez later stated in a Pro Sound News interview that the overall reduction was only 10 percent of the company’s workforce. Nonetheless, during his five year run, the company also introduced its Avid Everywhere infrastructure which has taken root and helped stabilize the once-shaky company.
According to Morningstar, following the announcement of Hernandez’s termination, Avid stock dropped 1.9% in early morning trading.
Avid • www.avid.com
