CA CFO Resigns

CA announced a third executive departure on May 15 when it said that Robert Davis, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will leave.

Davis, who took over the CFO job in February 2005, follows the announcement last week that CAs Chief Technology Officer Mark Barrenechea is leaving. In mid-April Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke announced his departure.

No reason was given for Davis departure, although CA called it a mutual agreement.

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Barrenechea, CTO and executive vice president, will leave CA in June to work for technology investment firm Garnett & Helfrich Capital in Menlo Park, Calif.

COO Clarke, who had been interim CFO prior to Davis, left CA last month to become CEO of the Travel Distribution Services division of Cendant.

CA named Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller Robert Cirabisi to be the latest interim CFO while it searches for a permanent replacement for Davis.

The company did not disclose the reason for Davis departure, nor did it say what he would be doing. Davis has agreed to stay on for a short period of time to smooth the transition to a new executive, according to the company.

CA spokesperson Dan Kaferle said that none of the departures are related, but he could not comment on the reason for Davis departure or on what he plans to do.

"Its never good [when] the CFO leaves. Thats not good news, and three in a row said Ray Paquet, managing vice president at Gartner, in Lowell, Mass.

CA is in its quiet period before stating its financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter and full year. On April 25, the company said that it would not meet its revenue or earnings estimates. Revenue is expected to be between $940 and $950 million, rather than the $975 to $1 billion estimates CA gave earlier. And the company said it now expects earnings to be flat or up to two cents a share, compared with earlier estimates of nine to 10 cents a share.

None of the departing executives was hired by CAs Chairman and CEO John Swainson, who joined CA in late 2004.

Gartners Paquet said the Clarke and Barrenechea departures were not surprising, but Davis departure is.

Whether it presages further bad news for the embattled CA is impossible to know, he said.

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