Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) board member Kenneth Cron has been asked to be the company's interim chief executive officer (CEO), according to articles Friday in several publications.
Reports differed on whether Cron would accept the job: CRN, which Cron once published, said he had agreed to serve as CEO, while Reuters said Friday afternoon Cron had not yet agreed to take the post. A CA spokesman had no comment.
CA plans to soon launch a search for a permanent CEO to fill the spot vacated Wednesday, when Sanjay Kumar stepped down under pressure stemming from government investigations of the company's past accounting transgressions. Kumar also resigned from CA's board and from his position as chairman, a role now filled by board member Lewis Ranieri.
Cron joined CA's board in July 2002, as the company worked to overhaul its board following criticism from analysts and investors about its corporate governance and an expensive fight with a dissident shareholder seeking to replace CA's management.
Cron is one of the few CA directors with a background in technology. He most recently served as CEO of Vivendi Universal Games Inc., a position he held from June 2001 though January. He also helmed an online gaming company, Uproar Inc., during the dot-com boom, but his longest executive tenure was at tech industry publisher CMPMedia Inc. (now CMP Media LLC), where he worked for two decades and rose to president of publishing.