CA's Cron In The Running For CEO

"Ken is in the running," Ranieri said, reversing the position Cron himself took when he accepted the CEO job four months ago. At that time, Cron said he wasn't a candidate for the full CEO position.

Cron, the original publisher of CRN and a CA board member who took the interim reins from ex-CEO Sanjay Kumar, is everything CA has said it is looking for in a new CEO"an industry veteran with experience in the reseller channel that CA covets as a way to increase its SMB market share, CA partners said.

Sean McTaggart, president of TriLine Solutions, Holland, Mich., is impressed with what Cron has done so far for CA. Some shareholders also appear to be in Cron's corner. And Ranieri said he hopes "a new CEO would not make that many changes" to what Cron has accomplished.

That said, Ranieri pointed out that dozens of candidates for CEO have been interviewed with no decision deadline.

Under Cron, CA's net income is back in the black after three consecutive years of losses. The company is adding 150 new employees to aid its channel efforts, and expects double-digit revenue increases by 2006 "barring any settlement with the government," said COO Jeff Clarke.

CA is still facing an ongoing federal investigation looking at the company's accounting practices. CA's former CFO, Ira Zar, and two senior vice presidents of finance have already pleaded guilty.

CA shareholders last week defeated a proposal calling for current and former executives to return bonuses based on restated results. In addition, shareholders approved the re-election of KPMG LLP as CA's independent auditor.