Software firm VMware’s board of directors has appointed Rangarajan (Raghu) Raghuram as the new chief executive officer succeeding Pat Gelsinger who is now the CEO of chipmaker Intel. Raghuram will also become VMWare board of directors.

At present, Raghuram holds the position of executive vice president and COO, Products and Cloud Services at VMware.

“After a thorough and thoughtful search, the Board concluded that Raghu is the best person to lead the company as CEO, because he embodies our innovative culture, represents our values and has a clear vision for VMware’s future,” said Paul Sagan, VMware’s lead independent director. “We also want to thank Zane Rowe for his leadership as Interim CEO and the crucial role he plays continuing as CFO.”

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Raghuram joined VMware in 2003. He was tasked to grow the software firm’s core virtualization business and helped drive VMware’s software-defined data center strategy. He also constructed and guided VMware’s cloud computing business and SaaS (Software as a Service) transformation efforts, played a pivotal role in the company’s M&A strategy and has been key in driving partnerships with Dell Technologies, hyper-scalers, and other strategic partners.

“I am thrilled to have Raghu step into the role of CEO at VMware. Throughout his career, he has led with integrity and conviction, playing an instrumental role in the success of VMware,” said Michael Dell, chair of the VMware Board of Directors. “Raghu is now in a position to architect VMware’s future, helping customers and partners accelerate their digital businesses in this multi-cloud world.”

Sumit Dhawan

“VMware is uniquely poised to lead the multi-cloud computing era with an end-to-end software platform spanning clouds, the data center and the edge, helping to accelerate our customers’ digital transformations,” said Raghuram. “I am honored, humbled and excited to have been chosen to lead this company to a new phase of growth. We have enormous opportunity, we have the right solutions, the right team, and we will continue to execute with focus, passion, and agility.”

VMware also announced that Sumit Dhawan has been named president, leading all go-to-market functions including Worldwide Sales, Worldwide Partner and Commercial Organization, Customer Experience and Success (CXS), Marketing, and Communications. With his broad experience building and scaling subscription businesses and his customer-centric orientation, Dhawan is ideally suited to take on leadership of these teams. Dhawan currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer at VMware where he has helped design the business strategy for emerging multi-cloud and subscriptions offerings, transforming how VMware’s customers can consume VMware services.