Overland Names New CEO

SAN DIEGO -- Overland Storage, Inc. (Nasdaq: OVRL) today announced the appointment of Eric Kelly, a current member of its board of directors, as the companys new chief executive officer. Vern LoForti, who previously served as the company’s president and CEO, will continue to serve as president.

Kelly joined Overland’s board in November 2007, bringing nearly 30 years of experience in computer technology with an emphasis on operational, marketing and sales expertise. He previously was president of Silicon Valley Management Partners Inc., a management consulting and M&A advisory firm, which he co-founded in 2007. Kelly previously served as president of Maxtor Corporation's systems business, and also held positions at Dell Computer Corp., Diamond Multimedia, Conner Peripherals and IBM.

In 2002, Kelly assembled a group of private equity investors and engineered the purchase of Snap Appliance from Quantum Corp. for $10 million. Kelly recognized the product line’s inherent value, and, as Snap’s president and CEO, led the business to become the worldwide volume leader in the Network Attached Storage market. Only 18 months later in July 2004, Kelly sold the Snap business to Adaptec, Inc. in a transaction valued at $100.4 million, representing over a 10-fold increase in the value of the business. He then served as vice president and general manager of Adaptec’s storage systems solutions for two more years. Then, in early 2008, after joining Overland’s board the previous November, Kelly saw another opportunity to reacquire Snap as Adaptec put the business on the market. He helped facilitate the acquisition of Snap by Overland in June 2008 for a purchase price of $3.6 million.

“I firmly believe that the intrinsic value of Overland is significantly greater than its current market valuation. The combination of the Snap business, with which I am intimately familiar, the existing Overland product portfolio, and the coveted branded sales channel that Overland has built over the past 20 years, is a potent combination which we plan to leverage,” said Kelly. “As a member of a special committee of Overland’s Board formed to review the company's operations, I have worked closely with the management team to formulate the restructuring plan that was announced earlier this month. We have a solid plan to return the company to profitability, and I am confident that we can execute our strategic plan and build value for our shareholders and employees.”

Overland Storage Inc.