RALEIGH – Red Hat is painting a rosy picture to the public a little more than one month after it axed its chief financial officer without pay in connection with the firm’s “workplace standards.”
Inviting the media for a sneak peek into its new “Open Studio” at Red Hat Tower on Friday, executives with the open source giant appeared excited to show off its new digs.
However, they remained tightlipped about the sudden dismissal of its long-time executive Eric Shander.
“I can’t comment on that,” politely declined DeLisa Alexander, Red Hat’s executive vice president and chief people officer, when asked. “We’re working on the business and taking care of our people. That’s where our focus is.”
Red Hat CFO dismissed without pay ‘in connection with firm’s workplace standards’
She did say that the transition to his replacement, Laurie Krebs, former senior vice president of Finance, has been seamless.
“No issues,” she told the gaggle of reporters.
“Laurie Krubs is an amazing leader. We’re so fortunate that she is our team, and she stepped right up. We had our first company meeting where we introduced her to the whole population just a few weeks ago. It went really well, and people welcomed her.”
Apparently, her style is also winning rave reviews.
“She is a quiet but confident leader,” Alexander continued. “She’s has her own leadership cadence. She’s her own person, but she’s also very collaborative. It’s a nice leadership package.”
Despite the executive shakeup – and two pending sex-based discrimination cases – Red Hat is carrying on with business as usual.
Red Hat battles two sex discrimination lawsuits from former employees
Since its announced merger with IBM last year as part of a $34 billion deal that closed in July, the company has added 1,000 workers and delivered a 20 percent growth in revenue.
Last summer, the firm announced it would be expanding and moving associates into the area formerly occupied by restaurant Buku on the main floor of the Red Hat Tower building.
The new office space will open on Monday.
