ActivIdentity CEO Resigns, Replaced by COO

The board of directors of ActivIdentity ACTI (NASDAQ), a provider of digital identity assurance that provides authentication and user management products, announced the resignation of Chief Executive Officer and Senior Vice President of Sales Jason Hart effective November 1, 2007. Hart will continue to serve as a member of the Board of Directors. The board also announced the appointment of Thomas Jahn, the company's Chief Operating Officer, as the new Chief Executive Officer effective November 1, 2007. Jahn was also elected to serve as a member of the Board of Directors.

Hart's resignation came just after the company announced a revision in its previous guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, which ended on September 30.

"The reduced guidance reflects ActivIdentity's dependence on large orders and the slippage of several large orders from fiscal Q4 into Q1. We are disappointed with our revised guidance for the fourth quarter; however, we do believe this to be primarily an issue of timing. We expect to receive the majority of these slipped orders during the current quarter of our fiscal year 2008," said Jason Hart, chief executive officer.

Jahn appears to be well qualified to run the company, the big question remains can he bring something new to the table to get the company to perform. Jahn has vast experience in the field and has had a varied background covering all the necessary areas that would qualify him to be ActivIdentity's new CEO. I hope the board sees something about Jahn that's not readily apparent with regard to his ability to turn things around at the firm

Stay tuned