Canopy Faces Another Management Challenge

SALT LAKE CITY—The turmoil surrounding the management of the Canopy Group continues with the report of the death last week of Val Noorda Kreidel, who recently seized the reins of the corporate parent of the SCO Group Inc.

Kreidel, daughter of Canopy founder and former Novell CEO Ray Noorda, died last Thursday, just a week after the Noorda family and current Canopy management settled a dispute with three former executives of the company who were ousted in December.

Canopy now serves primarily as a holding company for many small technology companies primarily based in Utah.

The companys current CEO is William Mustard.

Canopy did not return a call for comment.

Kreidels death came the day before Canopy announced its settlement with former Canopy executives Ralph Yarro III, Darcy Mott and Brent Christensen.

The trio had been fired from Canopy in December in a surprise takeover move led by Kreidel.

At the BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City, the SCO Group tells the Unix world that the company has plenty of plans beyond its intellectual property lawsuits. Click here to read more.

In the aftermath, Yarro, the former CEO and chairman of the board, and the others in January sued to get their positions back and for at least $100 million in damages.

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