John T. Kurtzweil to Join Extreme Networks as Chief Financial Officer

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR) today announced that John T. Kurtzweil will join the Company as chief financial officer and senior vice president. Kurtzweil comes to Extreme Networks from Cree, a $1 billion company and market leader in LED technology. On June 29th, Kurtzweil will succeed Interim CFO Jim Judson, who will continue as a consultant during a transition period.

Kurtzweil has more than 15 years of experience as the CFO of publicly-traded companies and has led strategic planning cycles, M&A teams, and finance operations focused on improving shareholder value. He has worked as CFO with leading technology companies such as Cree (Nasdaq: CREE), Cirrus Logic and ON Semiconductor. Kurtzweil also worked for Read-Rite Corporation, Maxtor Corporation and Honeywell Incorporated. During his six-year tenure at Cree, Kurtzweil transformed the finance organization and helped the company grow from $396 million in annual revenue at the end of his first year to more than $1 billion in annual revenue today, with zero debt.

Kurtzweil has also served as a change agent at Cree, implementing new programs in the areas of accounting, finance, supply chain management and IT with a focus on improved operations and increased cash flow management.

"John brings a perfect complement of skills and experience to the Extreme Networks team," said Oscar Rodriguez, president and CEO for Extreme Networks. "We are looking forward to John further transforming our company processes and systems to improve efficiency and productivity, towards our goal of improved profitability and revenue growth over time."

Kurtzweil is a CPA, CMA, has an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. and a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University in Accounting.

"I believe Extreme Networks is well positioned to capitalize on network upgrades for cloud, data centers and mobile infrastructures," said Kurtzweil. "Extreme Networks has a long record of developing high performance Ethernet products and has helped its customers manage complex networks with open and innovative technologies."

"I want to thank Jim Judson for his help in transforming Extreme Networks financial operations," said Rodriguez. "Jim helped improve operational efficiencies which resulted in the Company delivering four consecutive quarters of non-GAAP profitability."

About Extreme Networks
Extreme Networks is a market leader in high-performance Ethernet switching for cloud, data center and mobile networks.  Based in Santa Clara, CA, Extreme Networks has more than 6,000 customers in more than 50 countries.  For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.extremenetworks.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including without limitation statements as to improved efficiencies, improved productivity, and improved profitability and revenue, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to risks and uncertainties, including network design and actual results of use of the product in different environments. We undertake no obligation to update the forward-looking information in this release. Other important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are contained in the Company's 10-Qs and 10-Ks which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. http://www.sec.gov  

SOURCE Extreme Networks, Inc.