Red Hat CFO is out 3 months after IBM acquisition

Dive Brief:

CFO of Red Hat, Eric Shander, is no longer with the company, Red Hat confirmed in a statement to WRAL TechWire October 10th. Shander been dismissed "without pay in connection with Red Hat's workplace standards," a company spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal.
The Raleigh, North Carolina-based software firm did not provide further details about his sudden departure, nor did it issue a formal press release, but WSJ confirmed that in his dismissal, Shander has effectively forfeited the $4 million retention award agreed to before his company's acquisition by tech giant IBM. Shander's dismissal comes three months after IBM acquired Red Hat in a $34 billion deal.
Red Hat has named Laurie Krebs, senior vice president of finance, as his replacement, a company spokesperson told WRAL TechWire via email.

Dive Insight:

IBM's $34 billion Red Hat acquisition was its largest, "by a multiple of six and the largest tech acquisition of the year," CIO Dive reported. At the time of the acquisition, CIO Dive confirmed Red Hat was to remain a distinct unit within IBM, with its full executive and management team carrying over, unchanged.

"IBM is keeping Red Hat as a standalone unit feeding into the larger hybrid cloud team at IBM," CIO Dive reported last year. "Red Hat has established a powerful brand, [which is] difficult to maintain."

But Shander's departure leaves open the possibility of a new, IBM-controlled C-suite. Nonetheless, Red Hat appears optimistic about Shander's replacement.

"Laurie [has] broad experience in [Red Hat's] finance organization," company spokesperson Stephanie Wonderlick told WRAL TechWire. "We have confidence that [she will] drive Red Hat's strong momentum, including that resulting from the acquisition by IBM. Red Hat's accounting and control functions remain healthy."

Shander started at Red Hat in 2015 as chief accounting officer, WRAL reported. The following year, after then-CFO Frank Calderoni left Raleigh for Silicon Valley, Shander stepped in as interim CFO, and assumed the position long-term in 2017.

Shander previously worked in the finance departments at IBM and Lenovo, The News & Observer reported. He would have received a $4 million "cash retention award" had he opted to stay with Red Hat for one calendar year following the IBM merger, the company told the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, according to The News & Observer.

The grant would have been paid in two installments, with Shander receiving half on the six-month anniversary of the closing date and the other half on the one-year anniversary if he was still employed by the company, The News & Observer reported.