OpenTV late Wednesday announced that president and CEO Alan Guggenheim resigned "for personal reasons" after less than a year in the job, and the company appointed Ben Bennett, formerly senior vice president of customer operations, to be chief operating officer and acting CEO.
Guggenheim joined OpenTV after John Malone’s Liberty Media group in October 2006 sold control of the interactive-TV firm to Swiss software company Kudelski Group, in a deal worth $132 million. Guggenheim previously had been CEO of NagraStar, a content-security company jointly owned by Kudelski Group and EchoStar Communications.
Other executives that have recently left OpenTV include Tim Evard, senior VP and general manager of marketing and applications products, and senior VP of advanced advertising Ed Knudson, appointed last week as VP of sales and marketing for Internet provider WildBlue Communications.
Also Wednesday, OpenTV's board named Mauro Saladini, currently executive VP and chief financial officer of the Kudelski Group, as a new director.
In announcing the changes, OpenTV executive chairman Andre Kudelski said in a statement: "Ben is a highly regarded and experienced OpenTV executive who has a clear view of the company's potential as well as outstanding relationships both within OpenTV and externally with customers and partners around the world."
Bennett joined OpenTV in March 2000, and has served as managing director for its European operations and senior VP and general manager of the worldwide professional services, consulting and support group. Previously, Bennett held senior management positions at Logica and British Telecom.
OpenTV, based in San Francisco, claimed its software has been integrated in 92 million digital set-top boxes and digital TVs worldwide.
