Newsday, September 8, 2006 article

The executive exodus at the company formerly known as Computer Associates has quietly continued in the months since a roster of top officers departed this spring, with veteran sales executive Gary Quinn the most recent to tender his resignation.

In a memo to employees yesterday, CA Inc. chief operating officer Michael Christenson said that Quinn was leaving "to spend more time with his family" and that he would be replaced temporarily by George Kafkarkou, who heads the consumer and small/medium business sales. Quinn, who joined the company in 1985 and has weathered some of its most turbulent periods, departs at month's end.

In addition to Quinn's departure, CA in the past two weeks has seen Joan Blackwood, senior vice president for global marketing, leave, along with chief information officer Kevin Kern and senior vice president and general manager for Latin America Vincenzo Dragone. Dragone had been with CA for 20 years.

Spokesman Dan Kaferle said the company is re-examining Latin American operations "to see what is the best way to serve that region."

Deb Coughlin, another CA veteran who once oversaw the human resources division, also departed, as did Nigel Turner, senior vice president of development operations.

Meanwhile, sources close to CA said it will soon announce that Amy Marlene Fliegelman-Olli, an in-house lawyer at IBM Corp., will join the company as co-general counsel. The current general counsel, Kenneth Handal, will become co-general counsel responsible for compliance and security and remain as corporate secretary, the sources said.

It was unclear yesterday why CA needed two general counsels, though one source noted Handal had recently inked a new employment contract. The source said Fliegelman-Olli was selected for the job by CA chief executive John Swainson, who worked with her in her capacity as an intellectual property lawyer at IBM.

Earlier this year, CA saw the departures of chief operating officer Jeff Clarke, chief financial officer Robert Davis, executive vice president of sales Greg Corgan and top technology executive Mark Barrenechea, among others. All have been replaced.

Kaferle said the recent management changes were not out of the norm. "CA is in the midst of a multiyear transformation," he said. "In any transformation there are management changes, some instituted by the company as it tunes its management team, and others are part of the normal ebb and flow of careers."

He said CA has a "deep management bench and has been successful with filling positions from the inside, and has gone outside to attract top talent. CA is confident in the strength of its management team and its ability to move the company forward."

CA's cost-cutting moves have included some eyebrow-raising steps. It recently sold the Islandia headquarters for $200-plus million and is leasing back the space during the next 15 years. Even the CA fitness center has been affected. Sources said its longtime manager and some staff were recently let go, and employees were told to bring their own towels because the company would no longer provide them. That news follows the company's decision last month to eliminate free breakfasts worldwide and dinners for those who work late in Islandia.

Meanwhile, another company that advises investors on proxy votes has recommended that shareholders vote to oust CA director Alfonse D'Amato and several other board members. Glass, Lewis & Co., in a report yesterday, said the board "has not performed effectively" in recommending that shareholders withhold votes for D'Amato, chairman Lewis Ranieri, Robert LaBlanc and former Securities and Exchange Commission accounting chief Walter Schuetze.

It also recommended they vote against ratifying CA's outside auditor, KPMG, where Schuetze worked for more than 30 years. CA has firmly stood by the board members, saying they helped right the company after years of accounting scandal.

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