Kumar Makes Clean Break

Kumar quit CA June 4 after only 44 days as chief software architect, a position created for him after he resigned under increasing pressure related to the investigation. In his software role, Kumar pledged to remain an active part of CA's customer relations and business development. But that ended last Friday when CA issued a statement, saying Kumar "will cease all involvement with the company's business, effective immediately."

In the statement, Kumar said, "It has become increasingly clear to me in the past few days that my continued role at CA is not helping the company's efforts to move forward. I understood that my stepping down as chairman and CEO represented a break with the past, but I have reluctantly concluded that as long as I hold any position, [the] focus on past issues and my current role will continue."

The initial, surprised reaction from many CA channel partners quickly settled into one jaded by the wave of recent corporate scandals. "Look at Enron and these other firms mired in accounting problems," said Sanford Cohn, general manager of The Atec Group, a CA partner in Albany, N.Y. "[CA] had to shed Kumar for the company to play the Phoenix role."

Steve Pazol, CEO of Nphase, Chicago, said, "The reason Kumar took the internal position as [chief software architect] was to give the board time to figure out what to do. CA is in damage-control mode and trying to minimize the pain to investors."

Three former CA executives, including former CFO Ira Zar, recently entered guilty pleas as part of cooperative agreements with federal prosecutors. CA continues its search for a new CEO under the current rein of interim CEO Ken Cron.

MARIE LINGBLOM contributed to this story.