
December 17, 2012 Akamai Announces CEO Succession
Contacts
Jeff Young
Media Relations
617-444-3913
jyoung@akamai.com or Natalie Temple
Investor Relations
617-444-3635
ntemple@akamai.com
Tom Leighton, Akamai Co-Founder, to become CEO effective January 1, 2013
Company to host Investor Summit on March 11, 2013
CAMBRIDGE, MA December 17, 2012 Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) today announced that the Akamai Board of Directors has elected company Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, Dr. Tom Leighton to become CEO of Akamai effective January 1, 2013. He will succeed Paul Sagan who announced earlier this year that he intended to step down as chief executive by the end of 2013. Dr. Leighton and Mr. Sagan will remain Akamai directors, and Mr. Sagan will become a senior advisor to the company, working with Dr. Leighton on business strategy and to ensure a smooth management transition.
The company also announced today that it will host an investor summit at the Boston Marriott Cambridge on Monday, March 11, 2013, for Akamai management to present key company priorities, product roadmaps and insights into major IT trends related to security, cloud computing, mobile, video, and big data.
Since co-founding Akamai in 1998, Dr. Leighton has been responsible for Akamais technology vision and has been one of the principal architects of the companys strategic direction while serving as Chief Scientist, as a member of Akamais senior executive team, and on the Board of Directors. Dr. Leighton is a renowned Internet technologist and has been a key driver of Akamais transformation from Internet startup to leading cloud infrastructure services platform. He has played a major role in charting the course for many of Akamais key product innovations, strategic accomplishments, and technological breakthroughs, from site and application acceleration to Web security and cloud infrastructure services.
Akamai is extremely fortunate to have such an outstanding executive with Toms business and technology experience to lead Akamais next phase of growth, said Mr. Sagan. He is an innovator with a deep understanding of the shifting landscape in public and private clouds, distributed computing platforms, and Internet security. Tom has earned the trust and respect of our customers, partners, employees, and shareholders through his hard work and vision over the past 14 years. He is supported by a highly experienced management team, and I join in the Boards unanimous support and confidence in Toms ability to continue driving Akamai forward.
Weve made tremendous progress building Akamai by developing innovative cloud infrastructure services while continuing to grow our content delivery services, said Dr. Leighton. I am proud of what we have accomplished as a team, but Im even more excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, driven by the pervasive use of the Internet in todays hyperconnected world. 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.
The company announced in April that it was starting an independent director-led search to name a new CEO to succeed Mr. Sagan, who has served as CEO since 2005. Under Mr. Sagans leadership, the company surpassed $1 billion dollars in annual revenue, completed numerous strategic acquisitions, and emerged as a leader in Internet performance and cloud infrastructure services. Working with Paul for more than a decade has been a tremendous experience, said Dr. Leighton, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate closely with him in the future.
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 thats what were doing with Toms appointment, explained Martin Coyne II, Lead Director of Akamais Board. We conducted an exhaustive review of the companys strategy and opportunities as we evaluated a broad range of potential candidates. We are confident that naming Tom is the best and most natural evolution of management responsibility at Akamai.
George H. Conrades, Chairman of the Akamai Board, added, Innovation has been fundamental to Akamais success from the beginning and will be even more so in the future. Tom has led Akamais focus on innovation since day one, working directly with customers and partners on breakthrough technologies for leveraging the power of distributed computing. As a Board, we are excited about Akamais prospects for delivering even greater customer value under Toms leadership. We also are extremely grateful for Pauls outstanding contributions to Akamais success and his sterling record of accomplishment that built Akamai into an S&P 500 company. We are delighted that he will continue in an active role supporting Tom and the entire leadership team.
Prior to founding Akamai, Dr. Leighton was a Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT and a member of MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Dr. Leighton holds numerous patents involving content delivery, Internet protocols, network algorithms, distributed computing, cryptography, and digital rights management. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Leighton served on the Presidents Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), during which time he chaired the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity. Dr. Leighton is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences.
About Akamai
Akamai is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performin
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
21/02/2026
With Software Defined Broadcasting more established in Milan Cortina look for Los Angeles 2028 to have less hardware and more cloud-based software systems...
21/02/2026
The SVP of Olympic Operations on turning CAD drawings into reality, building tru...
21/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/02/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer of Accused', A Psychological ...
20/02/2026
Gravity Media and Los Angeles-based Green Couch Entertainment announce a strateg...
20/02/2026
IMAX announces it is working with Apple TV to bring the 2026 FIA Formula One Wor...
20/02/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the Philadelphia Phillies to design, manufacture, ...
20/02/2026
ESPN announces the upcoming launch of Women's Sports Sundays - a first-of-it...
20/02/2026
As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots faced off in the NFL's biggest sporting event of the season on Sun., Feb. 8, Sennheiser wireless solutions ...
20/02/2026
ESPN announces its 2026 Major League Baseball spring training schedule, which includes four national games on ESPN, six games on ESPN Unlimited, and more than 2...
20/02/2026
Open Broadcast Systems, which specializes in software-based professional video transport, has added support for 200 Gigabit Ethernet to its range of encoders an...
20/02/2026
Chyron announces the release of PAINT 10.3, which is designed to help analysts and operators turn live action into clearer, faster on-air storytelling.
PAINT 1...
20/02/2026
With full squad workouts underway, MLB Network's live Spring Training game s...
20/02/2026
Tech enhancements, marquee productions are expected to take advantage of a summe...
20/02/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
20/02/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
20/02/2026
Speaking with SVG Europe after one of Team GB's greatest days at a Winter Olympics, BBC Sport's head of major events, Ron Chakraborty, explains the broa...
20/02/2026
Making Winter Games Olympic magic is the goal for every broadcaster in Italy cov...
20/02/2026
Curling, one of the least-dangerous Winter Olympic sports, is dominating the Mil...
20/02/2026
BBC Sport's presence at the 2026 Winter Games is centred around a significan...
20/02/2026
BBC Sport is bringing together its linear TV and streaming digital arms in a str...
20/02/2026
To broaden the appeal of winter sports at Milano Cortina, the BBC has integrated...
20/02/2026
Just in time for the start of Apple TV's inaugural season as the exclusive U...
20/02/2026
One big challenge was to depict the character of each of very different and wide...
20/02/2026
(L-R) Writer-director Amanda Kramer photographs the photographers at the premiere of her film By Design at the Library Center Theatre in Park City. (Photo by ...
20/02/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson explores the impact that increased memory prices are having on the consumer electronics market, and particularly the set-top box...
20/02/2026
Calrec Type R: Shaping the Future of Radio from the Heart of Flirt FM
Love may have filled the airwaves last week for Valentine's Day, and we've just c...
20/02/2026
NEW YORK - February 10, 2026 - An estimated 125.6* million viewers watched Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, according to Nielsen's Big Data Panel meas...
20/02/2026
NEW YORK - February 19, 2026 - Nielsen today shared updated and final Super Bowl...
20/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/02/2026
A leading global investment bank, with offices at Two International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, partnered with systems integrators Global Vision Engineering (G...
20/02/2026
Rise AV and Rise Broadcast, the global not-for-profit organisations dedicated to improving gender diversity across technical industries, have today announced a ...
20/02/2026
Open Broadcast Systems, the leader in software-based professional video transport, has added support for 200 Gigabit Ethernet to its range of encoders and decod...
20/02/2026
Signiant today announced the formation of its Customer Advisory Board (CAB), bringing together a select group of customers to collaborate on product strategy, r...
20/02/2026
PTZOptics today announced the launch of its Visual Reasoning initiative that makes video more actionable by combining robotic PTZ camera systems, AI, and open i...
20/02/2026
Amino, a global media technology provider delivering devices, software and cloud services that simplify and elevate video delivery, today announced the successf...
20/02/2026
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, today announced its call for technical papers for the SMPTE 2026 Media Technology Summit....
20/02/2026
Wowza Media Systems today announced that Granicus, a leading provider of digital engagement solutions for governments, continues to rely on Wowza to power its h...
20/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...