Wang Retires As Chairman Of CA, Hands Reins To Kumar

The company's directors named Wang to the honorary, uncompensated position of chairman emeritus and elected Kumar, president and CEO, to succeed him as chairman.

"Charles did a good job bringing the company to where it is now, but under Sanjay, clients and products are going to see new life," said Javed Matin, CEO of CA solution provider Myriad Solutions, Silver Springs, Md. "Sanjay has a strong customer focus, and that's something CA needs badly."

Since taking over as CEO in 2000, Kumar has pushed CA to develop stronger channel ties, solution providers said.

"Over the last year or two, they have moved more into a channel model and directed their sales force to work more closely with the channel," said Gertrud Pillay, director of product management at PC Mall, Torrance, Calif. "[Kumar sees that the channel is the way to go," Pillay added.

Kumar has outlined a strong channel strategy in product areas such as storage and security, but he now should develop a clear channel message on CA's Unicenter network management line, said Gregory Richey, senior vice president and managing partner of Richey Systems, a solution provider in Anaheim, Calif.

Credit for CA's improvement in channel relations also belongs to Wang, said Gregory Maisel, director of business strategy at Applied IT Solutions, Frisco, Texas.

"Wang put them on the right road, and Sanjay has continued to extrapolate from that," Maisel said.

Wang described his departure as "bittersweet" in a memo to employees.

"With the right foundation and the right leadership in place, I have concluded that my work is done and that now is the right time for me to retire," Wang said.

Wang left as the Islandia-based company faces an ongoing federal investigation into its accounting practices.

His departure was unrelated to the investigation, according to CA.

"[His retirement has to be viewed as a positive simply because [he was clearly a lightning rod for critics of the company," said Patrick McGurn, vice president of Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisory firm in Rockville, Md.

Wang garnered criticism for his role in a $1.1 billion stock award in 1998 for himself, Kumar and another executive, said to be at the center of the investigation, launched in February.

Neither Wang nor Kumar were available for comment.