Lexmark Names New President and CEO

Following a gap of almost 4 months with no CEO, Lexmark’s board of directors has unanimously selected Richard (Rich) Geruson (pictured) as Lexmark president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Geruson will also serve on the Lexmark board of directors.

An experienced technology leader, Geruson spent the last six years as chief executive officer and president of Phoenix Technologies, the premier provider of firmware and optimization software for PCs, tablets and embedded Internet of Things devices. Prior to that, he was chief executive officer of Voice Signal, the pioneer of voice recognition software for mobile phones. He also held senior vice president and vice president positions at Nokia, IBM and Toshiba, and was an executive at McKinsey & Company.

Ninestar Group Chairman Jackson Wang is obviously delighted with the appointment. Wang told RT Media, “Rich is a very smart guy. He has great experience as a CEO. More importantly he is very confident about Lexmark’s future.” Ninestar was part of the consortium that acquired Lexmark late 2016.

Geruson was selected after an extensive search in which numerous highly qualified candidates were considered. He succeeds David Reeder, who left the company in June. In the interim, Lexmark was led by a management team consisting of Brock Saladin, senior vice president and chief revenue officer, and Allen Waugerman, senior vice president and chief technology officer. Saladin and Waugerman will remain key members of the Lexmark executive leadership team in their current roles, reporting to Geruson.

“We are pleased to welcome Rich to Lexmark,” said Mickey Kantor, chairman, Lexmark Board of Directors. “His track record of growing established technology businesses while ensuring profitability makes him an ideal choice to lead Lexmark to its next level of success.”

In addition to a bachelor’s degree in economics from La Salle University, Geruson has completed three graduate programs from the University of Oxford including a master’s degree, and a doctorate in economics. He was a member of the research faculty at Harvard Business School where he completed the book, “A Theory of Market Strategy,” and has served on numerous boards of public and private companies across three continents.

“Lexmark is a company with a long-standing reputation for excellence, from best-in-class products and solutions to a remarkable customer retention rate,” said Geruson. “I am proud to lead the team as we embark on our next stage of global growth.”