This article is more than 1 year old

Juniper okays Elliott Management's board nominees

Figure out a strategy, boys, says activist investor

Juniper Networks and activist investor Elliott Management are fluttering the “peace in our time” paper, with the network ironmonger agreeing to appoint two new Elliot-approved directors to its board.

The deal will hopefully give the company some respite from a year of corporate turbulence that saw the appointment and axing of a CEO, the offloading of the Pulse business, and layoffs in a restructure demanded by Elliott.

From the start of March, Jim Dolce and Rahul Merchant will be added to the networking outfit's board.

Juniper's announcement identifies Dolce as a networking veteran with experience both within Juniper as EVP of worldwide field operations, and a current role on the board of optical transmission outfit Infinera.

He is also CEO of mobile security company Lookout.

Merchant is on the board of Fair Isaac and Emulex (the latter another of Elliott Management's targets, having tossed former executive chair Jim McClulney to satisfy Elliott).

Elliott Management has endorsed the new hires, saying they will “assist Juniper in continuing” the progress of its “clear, well-defined strategy”.

Foot-soldiers in the company might be wondering if "strategy" translates as ""cost-cutting" or if more subtle measures are in the works. ®

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