The board of directors of ClearOne announced the termination Thursday of its chief executive officer, Zee Hakimoglu, and the appointment of Derek Graham, senior vice president of research & development, as the interim chief executive officer.
“Derek Graham joined ClearOne in 2003 and has overseen the development and introduction of multiple generations of ClearOne products and has authored patents critical to ClearOne’s success. I am confident that Derek will bring fresh perspectives to the challenges faced by ClearOne, energize our employees, and connect with our partners with trust and care,” said Eric Robinson, Chairman of ClearOne.
“I am pleased to be entrusted with this opportunity and thank our Board of Directors for their confidence in me. I have no doubt that ClearOne will overcome the current challenges with the combined strength of our team, products and solutions, intellectual property, brand value, and channel relationships,” said Derek Graham, CEO of ClearOne.
Derek Graham will enjoy the support of the core management team which consists of the following members:
- Narsi Narayanan, chief financial officer, who has been with ClearOne since 2009, will continue to lead finance, manufacturing operations, partner support, and information technology teams.
- Ketan Merchant, vice president of video technologies, who has been with ClearOne since 2015, will continue to lead video engineering, technical support and marketing teams.
- David Lambert, vice president of audio technologies, who has been with ClearOne since 1986, will continue to lead the audio engineering team.
- David Wang, vice president of sales for APAC, who has been with ClearOne since 2004, will continue to lead the Asia Pacific sales team.
- Grifiths Zachariah, vice president of sales for Europe, Middle East, India, Africa and Oceania, who has been with ClearOne since 2011, will continue to lead the respective sales teams.
- Jim Mergens, promoted to vice president of sales for Americas, has been with ClearOne since 2003.