DeWalt replaces Dale Fuller who has served as McAfee’s interim president and CEO since the management upheavals that saw the departure last October of former chief executive and chairman George Samenuk and president Kevin Weiss.
Before joining McAfee, DeWalt was in charge of storage firm EMC’s worldwide customer operations, including global sales and services. He also managed the document content management business. Before that he served as president of the EMC Software Group, where he was responsible for business operations, product development and customer operations. DeWalt joined EMC when it acquired Documentum, which he led as CEO through 13 consecutive record quarters before EMC bought it for US$1.7 billion in 2003.
Fuller will resign from his position April 1, 2007 and serve as an advisor to DeWalt during a transitional period, the company said in a statement.
Weiss was fired and Samenuk resigned last year following an internal investigation into McAfee’s accounting practices triggered by concerns over the backdating of stock option grants.
McAfee is one of a number of US companies that have been investigated over stock options practices.
