CEO David Flynn Leaves Fusion-io

David Flynn, the charismatic co-founder of Fusion-io who has been leading the company for the last seven years, has stepped down to “pursue entrepreneurial investing activities” with immediate effect. He will be replaced by Shane Robison, current chairman of the board of directors who has been with the company since 2011.

Another co-founder, Rick White, has resigned as chief marketing officer to join Flynn in his as-yet unannounced venture. Both will remain members of the Fusion-io board for the next 12 months to ease the transition process.

The announcement has knocked a quarter of the value off Fusion-io stock on the New York Stock Exchange, highlighting the trust investors placed in Flynn.

Gone in a flash

Fusion-io is a US hardware and software developer selling enterprise storage products based on solid state NAND Flash memory. It was the first company to release a direct-attached, solid-state server storage array that featured PCI-Express connectivity. Today, such appliances have grown into a separate market, with Seagate releasing its first flash PCIe drive, the X8 Accelerator, earlier this week.

Robison, aged 59, has more than 30 years of experience in business management and product development at IT companies such as Compaq, AT&T, Cadence Design Systems and Apple. For the last nine years, he served as the executive VP and chief strategy and technology officer at HP.

Scott Sandell, lead independent director of the Fusion-io board, thanked the departing executives for their contribution to the company, and praised Robison (pictured) for his ability to “develop the critical corporate strategies to help innovative companies scale and grow globally”, as well as his skill at handling partner relationships.

A Fusion-io statement stressed that the announcement is not related to any issues regarding the integrity of the company’s financial statements or practices.

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