SurfControl founder denies bad blood as he departs

SurfControl's former CEO Steve Purdham has severed all his executive ties with the company. The move is in keeping with a move by SurfControl away from its UK roots but Purdham has denied this is a negative cull of the UK operations.

In July the British founder ended his tenure as CEO and was replaced with former Sun and Salesforce.com exec Patricia Sueltz. The firm also switched its headquarters from the UK to California.

Now Purdham is set to leave the board entirely, having served briefly in the twin role of CTO and chief strategy officer but he told silicon.com he will take up a non-executive seat on the board.

Purdham said: "It's not a negative 'clearout'. This is simply execution of succession planning that started as long ago as last September.

"SurfControl has built something that is special for a UK company. I am proud to pass on the 'baton'."

He added: "I am going to remain involved as a non-exec board member."

This latest shake-up has also seen the company dispense with the services of another senior UK exec, Patrick Jolly, who headed up the company's acquisition strategy.

At the time of Sueltz's installation as CEO, the company also severed ties with UK public relations firm Berkeley and parted company with its UK-based head of marketing Martino Corbelli.

Last week Sueltz appointed former Salesforce.com colleague and fellow Sun alumnus Max Rayner as CIO.