The Juniper executive shuffle

On March 13, 2007 one day after issuing re-stated earnings, Juniper announced the departure of two key executives – Robert Dykes, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Robert Sturgeon, Executive Vice President, Service Layer Technology Group. During the conference call Scott Kriens noted that the moves were "mutual decisions, not at all related to the financial model or the financial performance of the company."

In addition to the departure of Dykes and Sturgeon, Juniper has had every major executive that reports to Scott Kriens (the CEO) change within the last 18 months. This includes Jeff Lindhom (CMO), Paulette Altmaier (EVP Applications), George Riedell (VP, Strategy), Jim Dolce (EVP WW Field Ops), Jeff Graham (EVP Applications), and Carol Mills (EVP/GM Infrastructure Products). The only constant has been Pradeep Sindhu (CTO, Co-founder), who has no operational responsibilities. In addition, Juniper added a new COO in January (Stephen Elop) who will undoubtedly cause further review of the organization.

So what does this mean to Juniper? First, churn means that strategic planning and execution within Juniper aren't getting the focus they require. Second, executive-level customer relationships have been disrupted. Third, constant re-shuffling of the organization creates paralyses. Finally, that Juniper has had difficulty building a team for the long term.

While 2006 was a difficult year for Juniper, 2007 promises a host of new products and new opportunities for Juniper as well. So, let's not rule Juniper out yet.