Mark Spencer, founder of the Asterisk movement, lead off the conference call by saying, "Today is one of the most exciting days in the history of the company." Them's some mighty big words! Mark explained that this came about while searching for a COO and VP of Business Development and they were then approached with something even more exciting.
Mark explained why Digium hired a new CEO and why Mark changed his role within Digium. Mark, "When you start a company and you're just one person, you have to do everything yourself and that is the history of Asterisk got started really - because I needed my own phone system and they were too expensive to go out and buy one. But as you grow, you have to start delegate stuff out. The easiest thing to delegate out in the beginning is to delegate stuff you're bad at and don't enjoy doing. Delegating stuff you're good at but don't enjoy doing. Then there is stuff you enjoy doing but are still bad at doing. Lastly and the most difficult part is delegating away stuff that is very enjoyable to you and that you have a propensity for doing well. Digium has reached a size that that was a decision I had to make." (Note: I'm typing this during the call, so the exact quotes may be a bit off)
Mark added, "While hopefully I've done a (cough - nervousness? I think its modesty since he didn't want to toot his own horn) fairly reasonable job getting the company to this level, I felt that the part that is more interesting to me and that part where I can bring the most value to the community, employees, and the customers, was focusing on the technology and strategic vision of the company in the long run. When I had the opportunity to bring on someone who has an incredible operational background and whom I have a relationship of trust for the past 7 years, it was simply a very easy decision to make and to make this transition happen."
Bill Gates (Windows) role and title famously shifted and now Mark Spencer's (Linux) role has shifted. This is all part of the 1st law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy) and keeping the universe in balance. That's my theory anyway. Mark Spencer is to Bill Gates was Neuman was to Jerry Seinfeld, what the Red Sox are the Yankees. It all makes perfect sense now. If Mark didn't change titles, the universe would explode.
Mark explained that Danny Windham "has been a board member since 2000 and actually has been with the company longer than any other employee has been. He was able to come on and be the CEO of the company and allow me to be able to focus on the community and the customers and the technology of the company in a much more focused way."
ADTRAN explained that they have a 7 year relationship with Digium, with a significant investment in Digium but a minority investment. Since I want to get this news up and let everyone listen to the conference call themselves, I'm going to post the entire conference call here as a podcast. I may update this post in a bit with some more interesting quotes.
Here's an MP3 podcast of the conference call:
Conference Call with Digium about new CEO
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