Back in 1998, Tom Leighton co-founded Akamai in an effort to use his mathematical knowledge to help get around web congestion. While Leighton has been actively engaged in the leadership and evolution of Akamai ever since then, starting on January 1, 2013 he will embark on a new role, as company CEO.
Leighton succeeds current CEO Paul Sagan, who has also been with the company since 1998. Sagan has served as Akamai’s CEO since 2005 and helped grow the company to over $1 billion in annual revenue.
Akamai announced in April of this year that Sagan was set to exit the CEO role in 2013. At the time the company began an executive search to find its next CEO, but as it turns out they didn’t need to look very far.
“When we began evaluating our options for the next CEO of Akamai, our objective was simply to have the best possible leadership team in place for continued growth and innovation in the years ahead, and that’s what we’re doing with Tom’s appointment,” explained Martin Coyne II, Lead Director of Akamai’s Board, in a statement. “We conducted an exhaustive review of the company’s strategy and opportunities as we evaluated a broad range of potential candidates.”
Leighton noted that he’s proud of what Akamai has accomplished so far, but he’s even more excited about the road ahead.
“Akamai is extremely well positioned to offer innovative new solutions on our unique Intelligent Platform that are designed to help our customers succeed by harnessing the power of cloud computing, mobile solutions, online video, and big data, all while protecting their business from the increasing threat of cyber attacks,” Leighton said in a statement.
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
