Symantec’s (NASDAQ: SYMC) board of directors has elected Chairman Steve Bennett to succeed Enrique Salem as president and CEO, effective immediately, the company announced Wednesday.
Bennett has served as chairman since 2011 and on the board since February 2010, while the 19-year company veteran Salem had served as chief executive for three years.
The board also elected Dan Schulman to serve as independent lead director.
“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, ” Schulman said in a release.
Bennett said the company had progressed on several fronts during the past three years with Salem in the CEO post.
Prior to joining Symantec, Bennett served as president and CEO at Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), where that company credits him helping more than double revenue between fiscal years 2000 and 2007.
Revenue went from less than $1 billion in fiscal 2000 to $2.7 billion in fiscal 2017, the company says.
He joined Intuit from General Electric, where he held management posts in different business areas including consumer appliances and financial services.
His experience includes helping lead the capital e-business, capital vendor financial services, electrical distribution and control, appliances, medical systems and supply units.
Bennett also serves on the boards of directors at American Airlines (NYSE: AMR) its parent company AMR Corp. and Qualcomm (NYSE: QCOM).
