VMware Taps Raghu Raghuram As New CEO

VMware VMW has named Rangarajan (Raghu) Raghuram as its new CEO, effective June 1.

What Happened: Raghuram, who will also become a member of the Palo Alto, California-headquartered company’s board of directors, replaces Pat Gelsinger, who left in February to become CEO at Intel Corporation INTC. Zane Rowe, VMare executive vice president and chief financial officer, served as interim CEO since Gelsinger’s departure.

Raghuram joined the company in August 2003 as director of product management and rose through the corporate ranks, most recently serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer for products and cloud services.

Board Chairman Michael Dell praised Raghuram for “playing an instrumental role in the success of VMware,” adding that as chief executive he will be “in position to architect VMware’s future, helping customers and partners accelerate their digital businesses in this multi-cloud world.”

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What Else Happened: VMware also announced the promotion of Sumit Dhawan from senior vice president and chief customer officer to president, a position that has been vacant since 2016. Elsewhere in the VMWare C-suite, Chief Operating Officer for Customer Operations Sanjay Poonen announced his resignation after seven years at the company.

VMware also released its preliminary results for its Fiscal Year 2022 first quarter, with a revenue forecast of $2.9 billion, up 9.5% year-over-year, a GAAP net income per diluted share expected to be $1.01 per diluted share and non-GAAP net income per diluted share expected to be $1.76 per diluted share. The company’s earnings report is scheduled to be published on May 27.

VMware shares opened for trading on Wednsday at $160.97, down 0.07%.

(Photo of Rangarajan (Raghu) Raghuram courtesy of VMware.)