Fonality names third CEO in two years

Fonality is giving Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ)'s CEO merry-go-round some serious competition, naming its third chief executive in the past two years. Former Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) exec David Scult has taken over the top post at the VoIP and UC specialist, replacing Dean Mansfield who replaced Chris Lyman in January 2010.

Lyman had been CEO since the company launched in 2004. In an email, a company spokesman said Mansfield left at the end of the year to pursue other interests.

The company said the change in leadership came as it was "expanding its focus to strengthen both the channel program and direct sales initiative simultaneously," a move for which Fonality's board feels Scult's skill set is well suited, adding that the move "is a natural transition."

The Fonality spokesman said the company would capitalize on Scult's "dynamic experience and thought leadership from both large enterprises and entrepreneurial endeavors as the company solidifies a broader, agnostic family of solutions encompassing both cloud and hybrid-hosted offerings."

"David is a seasoned executive whose proven expertise with both large and small firms will be an incredible asset to support Fonality's upward trajectory," said Paul Weinstein, general partner, Azure Capital Partners and a Fonality board member. "We look forward to benefitting from the talents he cultivated at industry icons like Microsoft that will help Fonality fulfill ambitious goals, such as global expansion and even stronger innovation."

Scult was GM of Microsoft Office 365, where he was responsible for global distribution of Microsoft Information Worker products in the cloud, including SharePoint, Exchange and Office.

"I am excited to be entrusted to lead a dynamic organization that is redefining the industry like Fonality," said Scult. "Their agnostic platform which can deliver hosted, premise-based or hybrid-hosted solutions offers tremendous flexibility to the marketplace." Scult added that he believes Fonality is "poised for explosive growth." Fonality provides cloud-based VoIP and Unified Communications solutions for small and mid-size businesses.

For more:
- see this release

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