Avid President/CEO Gary Greenfield Resigns, Board Member Louis Hernandez Tapped as Successor

Avid President and CEO Gary Greenfield has resigned, effective immediately, and the company’s Board of Directors has appointed Louis Hernandez as his replacement. According to Avid’s SEC filing on Monday, Greenfield, who joined Avid in 2007, will remain on Avid’s Board of Directors.

Newly minted Avid President/CEO Louis Hernandez

Louis Hernandez takes over as Avid President/CEO immediately.

Hernandez has been a member of the Avid Board since 2008.  Most recently, he was also Chairman of the Board and CEO of Open Solutions, a technology provider to financial institutions worldwide, which was acquired in January 2013 by Fiserv.

“Louis is a visionary, inspirational leader with a stellar track record of driving the operations and growth of technology companies in a variety of industries,” said George Billings, speaking on behalf of Avid’s Board in a press release. “As lead director, he spent years developing a deep familiarity with Avid’s customers, markets, and products that will allow him to quickly make a positive impact as chief executive.”

In addition to his role at Open Solutions, Hernandez previously authored two books on the financial sector (Saving the American Dream – Main Street’s Last Stand and Too Small to Fail) and currently serves on the board of directors of HSBC North America Holdings and HSBC USA.

“It is an exciting opportunity to lead Avid at this very important juncture in the company’s history,” Hernandez said in the release. “As the industry leader for more than 25 years, Avid continues to set the standard for non-linear-editing, media management, and collaboration in the audio, video, and broadcast markets. The company is well positioned for growth and global expansion in this fast-moving marketplace. It is exciting to be working with the Avid team, as we drive results and value for our customers, employees, and shareholders.”

Greenfield is out at Avid's top exec.

Greenfield has served as Avid’s top exec since 2007.

According to the SEC filing, Greenfield will be entitled to “payment of his accrued benefits, salary continuation for 12 months in the aggregate amount of $1,014,000, a payment in respect of annual bonus of $1,123,200, payment in respect of COBRA premiums, outplacement services and thirteen months additional vesting on his outstanding time-vesting equity awards. All other unvested equity awards will be forfeited upon Mr. Greenfield’s separation from the Company.

Hernandez added, “On behalf of the Avid community, I want to thank Gary Greenfield for his outstanding leadership and lasting contributions to Avid and our industry.”

The news comes on the heels of a tough 2012 for Avid, which saw declining profits and a series of layoffs worldwide. In addition, Avid sold the bulk of its consumer product lines over the summer, including its Pinnacle video editing software portfolio (to Corel) and AIR and M-Audio audio editing units (to inMusic).

Nonetheless, Avid stock was up 4.5% ($0.34) after the news broke on Monday, reaching $7.87.

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