Veritas CFO Resigns

This week, Veritas announced that CFO Kenneth E. Lonchar handed in his resignation after an internal investigation of his background revealed that he did not acquire an MBA from Stanford University. Veritas executives repeated this Lonchar affair is an isolated incident in the company

"We have always had a tight company ethics policy," Bloom said. "The outcome of this situation is what it is because we are not going to tolerate this in the corporation. We are pretty hopeful this is an isolated situation.

"This news has been a surprise to all of us," he added. "We are extremely saddened by the circumstances surrounding his departure."

Bloom said that Jay A. Jones, senior vice president and chief administrative officer, has assumed the role of acting CFO. As chief administrative officer, Jones has working knowledge of the company's internal controls, processes and procedures. Bloom said he confident he can find a permanent replacement by the end of this year.

"It is a favorable environment for hiring out there," he said. "And Veritas is a strong company."

During a conference call yesterday, Bloom released some details on how Veritas executives discovered the falsification. An e-mail was sent to one of the company's board of directors. From there, executives did a background check on Lonchar and discovered he had lied about his education on his resume.

Lonchar had been with Veritas for about seven years, coming into the company when it acquired Open Vision. The company didn't conduct employee background checks back then. More recently, the company has been doing employee background checks. Bloom would not give details about who sent the initial e-mail that started the whole situation.

"That would be heading down the path of confidentiality," said Bloom.

Veritas reaffirmed guidance on its financials for the fourth quarter, expected to be announced the end of this month.