Partners: New F5 CEO Manuel Rivelo To 'Breathe New Life' Into Company

Network equipment maker F5 Networks on Wednesday named Manny Rivelo as its new CEO and president starting July 1, replacing longtime CEO John McAdam, who will become chairman of the board of directors upon his retirement.

Rivelo joined the Seattle-based vendor in October 2011 and served as executive vice president of strategic solutions. Rivelo has expanded F5 beyond its data center roots to include hybrid offerings with scale-out virtual editions, cloud solutions and as-a-service offerings complementing its hardware, according to a company statement. Before joining F5, he spent 19 years at Cisco Systems, serving most recently as senior vice president of engineering systems and operations.

[Related: Partners: New F5 Program Will 'Take Us To the Next Level']

Bill Tracy, director of solution architecture at Portland, Ore.-based solution provider Structured Communication Systems -- a longtime F5 partner -- said Rivelo could breathe "new life" into the company.

"They have a very solid, mature product portfolio and a great customer base," said Tracy, whose company ranks No. 242 on CRN's Solution Provider 500.

Brian Ortbals, director of advanced technologies at World Wide Technology, a St. Louis-based F5 partner, said via email that his company is ready to take its partnership "to the next level" under Rivelo's leadership.

"WWT couldn't be happier than to see Manuel be named as the new CEO at F5," said Ortbals, whose company ranks No. 12 on CRN's SP500. "Given our joint success over the past few years with John at the helm, we are very excited to take our partnership to the next level under Manuel's leadership. His vision and execution have proven extremely valuable to F5's success and we are confident that the future will be even brighter."

"This is an exciting time to be at F5," said Rivelo during a conference call disclosing the vendor's second quarter fiscal 2015 financial results. "I look forward to working with the company's executive staff and the rest of the F5 team to extend our leadership, expand our addressable market, and build on the company’s long history of success."

F5 said McAdam's 15-year tenure saw the company grow to more than $1.7 billion in annual revenue, while revolutionizing how applications are deployed, managed and secured.

"I am excited about the future of F5 and confident that the company will be in good hands with Manny at the helm," said McAdam during the call.

Income for the quarter ended March 31 was $85.7 million, or $1.18 per share, up 23 percent from $69.9 million, or 91 cents per share, the same quarter a year ago.

Non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $115.3 million, or $1.59 per share, compared with $96.9 million, or $1.27 per share, in the second quarter of last year.

Revenue for the quarter climbed 12.4 percent, to $472.1 million, up from $420 million the same quarter a year ago. Growth was led by an increase in customer sales in the U.S., tied to a stronger demand for security products, F5 executives said.

For the third fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2015, the company expects revenue of $475 million to $485 million, with an earnings target of $1.16 to $1.19 per share and a non-GAAP earnings target of $1.57 to $1.60 per share.

Shares of F5 traded down 2.85 percent at $116.99 in after-hours trading.

PUBLISHED APRIL 22, 2015