Paul Sagan Elected to VMware Board of Directors

IT channel veteran and General Catalyst XIR Paul Sagan will take the place of David Goulden on VMware's (VMW) board of directors, according to an announcement made this week. The change is scheduled to take effect immediately.

Sagan is well-known within the channel for his role as a partner and XIR at General Catalyst Partners as well as vice chairman at Akamai Technologies (AKAM). He also serves as the director of both EMC Corp. and iRobot Corp. Sagan stepped down as the CEO of Akamai last year.

"VMware continues to deliver strategic IT value and innovation to its customers worldwide," said Sagan in a prepared statement. "I am excited to work with the VMware board and executive team to extend VMware's value as they help customers thrive in the mobile-cloud era."

Goulden had served as a VMware board member since 2007. He also holds the title of CEO at EMC information Infrastructure and CFO at EMC Corp.

The reason for Goulden’s departure from the board was not announced. However, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger noted Goulden was instrumental in helping the company to garner a broad range of expertise in the financial, marketing and business development issues that all global organizations must take on. Goulden did not issue an official statement.

Sagan seems to have the chops to step into Goulden’s shoes as a member of the VMware board. In January, Sagan told FORTUNE that he did not plan to pursue any more CEO positions after stepping down from the lead role at Akamai to focus on venture capitalism with General Catalyst. It will be interesting to see if Sagan, whether willingly or reluctantly, takes on more of an active role in VMware in light of his new authority, as well as the particular reason behind Goulden’s sudden exit from the board.