Joe Eazor President and CEO, EarthLink

EarthLink, Inc. announced the retirement of Rolla P. Huff as president and CEO and the board of directors’ appointment of Joseph F. Eazor as the company’s new president and CEO and a member of the board of directors, effective January 13, 2014.

Huff will continue to serve as COB for a transition period.

Eazor, 51, has over two decades of IT industry and consulting experience. Most recently, he was EVP and COO of global dales and customer operations for EMC. Prior to that, he held a variety of senior leadership positions at HP and EDS, including SVP and GM of HP enterprise services (leading all operations of the former EDS), EVP of EDS corporate strategy and development, and president of EDS AsiaPac. He also has served as a director of McKinsey & Company, a partner and board member of ATKearney, and CEO of Springbow Solutions, a company that developed and provided portal-based internet solutions.

“I am proud to have been a part of the incredible transformation of EarthLink from a consumer ISP business to a next generation nationwide network and IT services business,” stated Rolla Huff, EarthLink’s current president and CEO. “We are indeed fortunate to have attracted an established senior technology executive of Joe Eazor’s stature to take the platform we have built to the next level. EarthLink customers and investors will benefit from Joe’s substantial sales, strategy and operational experience in some of the largest leading edge technology companies in the world. Joe and I will work together to make sure this leadership transition is seamless. To all of my wonderful colleagues, I can’t thank you enough for your tireless dedication and support as we returned EarthLink to being a leading edge technology company. I look forward to watching EarthLink revolutionize how businesses securely leverage the power of the cloud in their IT organizations.”

Added Eazor, “Rolla and team have conducted a remarkable transformation of EarthLink over the last few years. EarthLink has a broad customer base, a strong balance sheet and an impressive set of capabilities in the network, communications and IT services areas, positioning it well for the developing cloud services world. I look forward to building on these capabilities and leading this well regarded company to its next stage of success. I am honored to have this opportunity.”