Clustered file system startup Sistina Software Inc. is breaking in its third president and CEO in two years, as the company is expected to announce later this week that former IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and Terraspring veteran Ian Bonner has settled into the chief executive recliner.
Bonner, originally from South Africa, replaces Jeff Hinck, general partner at Crescendo Ventures, who has been functioning as Sistinas interim president and CEO since Frank Crusing left the company this summer (see Sistina Names CEO, Chairman). Crusing, who had joined the company in April 2002, has not informed the company of what he's been doing since leaving, according to a Sistina spokeswoman. [Ed. note: Just Crusing around, we expect.]
Meanwhile, Bonner -- who most recently was the president and CEO of Terraspring, which was acquired last year by Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) -- actually joined the Minneapolis-based company about six weeks ago. Im excited! Im buzzed! Im gratified that my decision is proving to be the right one, he rhapsodizes. Sistina has a great team and a great technology. [Ed. note: and a great ceiling!]
No matter how excited he is about the company, getting back to work must be tough. Since selling Terraspring to Sun last November, Bonner, 48, has been on what he calls a sabbatical to fix my golf game. (See Sun Bounces on Terraspring.) "Unfortunately, he says, that didnt happen. FORE!
While waiting for his golf game to pick up, Bonner says he started talking to about a dozen different companies, some storage and some wireless ventures, to scope out his opportunities. I even looked at going back to IBM, or even HP, he says.
