Nutanix hands CEO mantle to ex-VMware exec

Rajiv Ramaswami takes over the reins from storage vendor’s co-founder Dheeraj Pandey immediately

Nutanix has named former VMware exec Rajiv Ramaswami as its new chief exec.

Ramaswami succeeds Nutanix co-founder Dheeraj Pandey, led the company since its inception in 2009. He announced earlier this year that he would be leaving to spend more time with his family.

Ramaswami officially took over as president and CEO yesterday. He most recently held the role of COO of products and cloud services at VMware. During his tenure in this position, he played a "key role" in transitioning the virtualisation specialist to subscriptions and SaaS model.

Prior to his time at VMware, he held senior managerial roles at Broadcom, Cisco and IBM. Pandey hinted in a recent Q1 earnings call that his successor would need to be someone who had a strategy and a vision for its engineers.

"I'm thrilled to be joining Nutanix at this transformative time for the company and the industry," said Ramaswami.

"I have long admired Nutanix as a formidable competitor, a pioneer in hyperconverged infrastructure solutions and a leader in cloud software.

"Working closely with the board, the management team and the more than 6,000 talented Nutanix employees around the world, we will build on Nutanix's strong foundation of continuous innovation, collaboration and customer delight. Together, we will capitalise on the significant opportunities ahead and deliver on the company's next phase of growth and value creation."

Sohaib Abbasi, lead independent director at Nutanix, stated: "Rajiv distinguished himself among the CEO candidates with his rare combination of operational discipline, business acumen, technology vision and inclusive leadership skills.

"The talented Nutanix team, under Rajiv's leadership, is well-positioned to drive sustained growth, to improve efficiency and to advance leadership in the emerging hybrid cloud infrastructure category."

"Rajiv is the right leader at the right time," Pandey said of the appointment.

"With a future-proof business model, a loyal and expanding customer base, and a strong technology portfolio, I look forward to seeing Rajiv take the helm to lead this incredible team. This is the decade to watch for a company that so values simple, secure, and seamless.

"On a personal note, it has been a privilege to serve our customers and partners, working closely alongside Nutanix employees."