Juniper Networks appoints Kevin Johnson as CEO

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR), the leader in high-performance networking, today named Microsoft veteran Kevin Johnson as chief executive officer. Upon his arrival in September, Mr. Johnson will also be appointed to the board of directors. The company also announced today that Scott Kriens will continue as chairman of the board and will remain active in the areas of strategy and leadership development.

Mr. Johnson joins Juniper Networks from Microsoft Corporation where he served in a range of strategic executive assignments over the course of his 16-year tenure, most recently as president of the Platforms and Services Division.

“The first 12 years at Juniper have been the most rewarding years of my professional life and I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together,” said Scott Kriens, chairman and chief executive officer of Juniper Networks. “We are very excited to welcome Kevin as our new CEO he is a world-class executive, and a person whose values align exactly with the culture upon which Juniper has been built.  I look forward to working closely with Kevin in the years to come as we continue to build on Juniper’s success.”

“The Juniper team has been at the heart of the success we have realized since the founding of the company in 1996, and Scott has been at the center of that team with me since those early days,” said Pradeep Sindhu, founder and chief technology officer of Juniper Networks. “Today that team has gotten even stronger, with the addition of Kevin’s experience at scale, his background in engineering, and his proven ability to lead companies through times of rapid growth. I am looking forward to working closely with Kevin, Scott and the rest of the leadership team as we realize our vision of connecting everything and empowering everyone.”

“I am delighted to join Juniper,” said Kevin Johnson. “Juniper is a company with a clear technology agenda, great talent and an amazing growth opportunity in a growing industry.  I’m looking forward to bringing my experiences to help Juniper scale and deliver great value to Juniper’s customers, partners, employees and shareholders.”

Most recently, Mr. Johnson, 47, led the Platforms & Services Division, an organization of over 14,000 employees with responsibility for product development, marketing and strategy for the Windows and Online Services businesses.  Under his leadership, the division achieved record breaking results with over $20 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2008.  In addition to leading the Windows business, Mr. Johnson focused on building Microsoft’s position as a leader in online advertising and evolving its “software + services” strategy. 

He also worked globally with consumer, small and medium-sized business, enterprise and service provider customers. Prior to his current role, Mr. Johnson served as group vice president of Microsoft's worldwide sales, marketing and services and oversaw corporate operations and IT functions that supported the work of Microsoft employees around the world. Previous to Microsoft, Mr. Johnson worked in IBM's systems integration and consulting business and started his career as a software developer. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from New Mexico State University and served as a founding member of the board of directors of NPower, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help other nonprofits use technology to expand the reach and impact of their work. Mr. Johnson also served as a member of the Western Region Board of Advisors of Catalyst, a non-profit organization dedicated to women's career advancement.

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