NetApp (NTAP) Announces Management Streamlining; CFO Noviello Resigns

NetApp, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) announced organizational changes that will flatten and streamline the structure and enable focused execution in driving efficiency and velocity in the business. As part of this reorganization, Cynthia Stoddard, NetApp's Chief Information Officer, and Kris Newton, VP of Investor Relations, now report directly to CEO George Kurian, and Bill Berg, NetApp's SVP of Operations will report to EVP Joel Reich, among other changes. These changes are effective immediately.

NetApp also announced that Nick Noviello has decided to pursue another opportunity. Effective immediately, Jeffrey Bergmann, vice president of corporate finance, will assume the role of interim chief financial officer. Mr. Bergmann brings over 30 years of experience to the role, including six years in finance leadership positions at NetApp.

"NetApp has a deep bench of talented leaders and I am excited to welcome Cynthia and Kris to my staff. Combining Bill's manufacturing operations team with Joel's product operations team reflects synergies and connections and will help us drive greater efficiencies this fiscal year," said George Kurian, chief executive officer. "As we said in our last earnings call, we continue to assess every aspect of our business and are committed to taking decisive action to reduce complexity and drive efficiency. We believe today's announcement will optimize our organizational structure around our priorities as we continue to pivot towards the growth areas of the market. Our acquisition of Solid Fire will extend our leadership in flash and is further evidence of this pivot. With the strength of our enhanced flash portfolio, we will be well equipped to address new and growing customer needs, while the adoption of clustered Data ONTAP continues to gain ground in traditional workloads and use cases. We are confident we have the right portfolio to help customers navigate their IT transformations."

Mr. Kurian continued, "On behalf of the NetApp Board and management team, I want to thank Nick for his financial leadership and substantial contributions over the past eight years, overseeing several of its most important functions. We wish him well as he pursues the next chapter in his career. NetApp has a rigorous succession planning process, and a deep bench of leaders, and we are pleased that Jeff has agreed to serve as interim CFO. As part of the leadership team for the last six years, Jeff has a solid understanding of NetApp's business and my full confidence."

NetApp has initiated a search process to identify a permanent CFO and will consider both internal and external candidates.

NetApp also today reaffirmed the financial guidance for the third quarter of fiscal year 2016 provided on its November 18, 2015, earnings conference call and reiterated on its December 21, 2015 conference call announcing the acquisition of SolidFire. NetApp provided the following financial guidance for the third quarter of fiscal year 2016:

• Net revenues are expected to be in the range of $1.40 billion to $1.50 billion.
• GAAP earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $0.47 to $0.52 per share.
• Non-GAAP earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $0.66 to $0.71 per share.

NetApp reaffirmed that it will pay its next cash dividend of $0.18 per share of NetApp stock on January 20, 2016, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on January 8, 2016.

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