F5 Networks has named François Locoh-Donou as the company's President and CEO and a member of F5's Board of Directors, effective April 3, 2017. Locoh-Donou succeeds John McAdam, who will remain a Director on F5's Board upon his retirement on April 3, 2017.
In a note announcing the appointment, John McAdam, wrote in a blog post that, "He is an engineer by training, with a strong business background, who has spent nearly two decades building a wide range of products, teams and operations around the world. His track record at Ciena leading the company’s product development, services, sales, marketing and EMEA teams demonstrate his results."
Locoh-Donou last served as SVP and COO of Ciena, a network strategy and technology company. He announced his resignation from the company last week.
He previously held successive leadership positions at Ciena, including Senior Vice President, Global Products Group; Vice President and General Manager, EMEA; Vice President, International Sales; and Vice President, Marketing. Prior to Ciena, Locoh-Donou held research and development roles with Photonetics, a French opto-electronics company.
He holds engineering degrees from École Centrale de Marseille and Télécom ParisTech in France and a M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Locoh-Donou, In-coming CEO, F5
I have admired John's stewardship of the company's values and vision and I bring a shared commitment to grow F5's people, partnerships, product and services portfolio, in response to the increasing cloud and security demands of F5's customers.
John McAdam, Out-going CEO, F5
What attracted us from the beginning of the CEO selection process was François' multidisciplinary and multinational experience, ranging from product development to operations to sales. His track record at Ciena demonstrates he possesses the foresight and leadership to execute major market transitions, without compromising the best of a company's technical heritage or strong organizational culture.
