Novell COO To Depart

Novell

With the move, the eight-year Novell veteran and prominent technologist would make his exit roughly a year after new management arrived at the company's Provo headquarters. Last March, Novell and technology consultancy Cambridge Technology Partners agreed to merge, and under the deal Cambridge CEO Jack Messman became Novell's CEO, replacing Eric Schmidt, who's now CEO of Google.

Company sources said conflict had arisen between Nelson and Messman but noted that the 41-year-old COO wasn't forced out.

Novell plans to name Nelson's replacement shortly. "It was a mutual agreement. Jack Messman has his own style of management and is much more involved in the operational aspects of the company. And Jack has his own vision, and there was an agreement that it was time for Stewart to go and do something else," said Bruce Lowry, a Novell spokesman.

Nelson came to Novell in 1994 and during his tenure served in a variety of technology roles, including general manager and key architect of Novell GroupWise and senior vice president of research and development for NetWare 5, ZenWorks and eDirectory. Earlier, Nelson was a key technologist at WordPerfect, the neighboring software firm that Novell gobbled up in the mid-1990s.

One former Novell engineer said internal skirmishes are heating up in the post-honeymoon merger between Novell and Cambridge Technology Partners.

"Old-timers with close to 18 or 19 years [at Novell are being rifted and targeted again," the ex-Novell engineer said. "Sales are plummeting, and people are bailing. Internally, there are all the signs of a big shakeup by Messman's people. A lot of folks are jumping ship, and it seems to be due to management instability and makeover by Messman."

The former engineer said another longtime Novell executive--Craig Miller, vice president and general manager of Net Management Group, a Novell business unit--also is thinking about jumping ship. Novell declined comment on that claim and on whether a management shakeup was in effect.