Aerohive Adds Executives, Including New CFO

Gordon Brooks is Aerohive's new CFO. He most recently was CFO of Blue Coat Systems, a position he held from 2009 to 2012 and through Blue Coat's acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Before Blue Coat, Brooks was vice president of corporate finance at VMware and CFO of Spikesource, and earlier in his career held finance positions at companies such as BEA Systems, Microsoft and WebTV Networks.

Steve Debenham is Aerohive's new vice president of legal services and its general counsel. He previously held senior executive and general counsel positions at Silicor Materials, Asyst Technologies, Harris myCFO, Lam Research and other early and midstage growth companies.

[Related: 10 Networking Predictions For 2013 ]

Paul Milbury has joined Aerohive's board of directors. Milbury left Cisco in 2010 following its $2.9 billion acquisition of Starent Networks, in which he played a key role as Starent's vice president of operations and CFO. He also was previously CFO of Avid Technology and held financial positions at Digital Equipment Corp., Juniornet and iBelong.

"They all bring extensive experience and knowledge from their time in the trenches at high-growth technology companies and will provide invaluable guidance as we build upon Aerohive's market leadership," David Flynn, Aerohive's CEO, said in a statement.

Aerohive's previous CFO, George Frie, left the company in 2012.

Aerohive has in recent months made a number of key executive hires, including Dean Hickman-Smith, its senior vice president, worldwide sales; Raphael Gernez, its vice president, operations; and Kurt Mills, its vice president, channel sales. Some market observers view the moves as signs Aerohive is prepping for an initial public offering or a sale.

Neither route would be surprising for Aerohive, if recent wireless LAN market activity is an indication. In November, Ruckus Wireless went public in a much-anticipated IPO, while later that month Meraki, another wireless upstart, was acquired by Cisco.

Aerohive was founded in 2006 and is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. It had about 7,500 customers exiting 2012 and has won raves for its "cooperative control architecture," cloud management capabilities and controller-less approach to wireless LAN. The company sells 100 percent through solution providers and later this year is expected to develop a line of switches to complement its wireless and cloud wares.

Aerohive hit an annualized run rate of $100 million as of the end of 2012, and its backers include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northern Light Venture Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Institutional Venture Partners. Its most recent round was a $22.5 million infusion of mezzanine equity financing in September.

PUBLISHED JAN. 30, 2013