Eastman Kodak Names Jeffrey Clarke As CEO, Succeeding Perez

(RTTNews) - Eastman Kodak Co. (KODK) said Wednesday that its board of directors has elected technology industry veteran Jeffrey Clarke as its new chief executive officer and a member of its board. He succeeds Antonio Perez, who is now special advisor to the board.

Iconic photographic equipment maker Kodak emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2013 as a technology company focused on commercial imaging markets.

Commenting on Clarke's appointment, James Continenza, chairman of the board of Eastman Kodak, said, "Jeff is the right person to lead Kodak forward. His combination of strengths and experience in technology, transformation, finance, operations, and international business is precisely what we set out to find in the next leader of Kodak."

Prior to joining Kodak, Clarke,aged 52, was a managing partner of Augusta Columbia Capital or ACC, a private investment firm focused on middle market technology and technology-enabled businesses that was co-founded by him in 2012.

Prior to the formation of ACC, Clarke was the chairman of Travelport, Inc., a private travel technology company, where he served as CEO from 2006 to 2011. He led the sale of the company from Cendant Corp. to Blackstone Group L.P. (BX) for $4.3 billion in 2006. During his tenure, Travelport launched an IPO in 2007 for its Orbitz business.

From 2004 to 2006, Clarke served as the chief operating officer of enterprise software company CA, Inc. He served as executive vice president at Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) from 2002 to 2003 and co-led HP's merger integration with Compaq Computer. Earlier, Clarke was CFO of Compaq Computer, which he joined in 1998 following the merger of Compaq with Digital Equipment Corp.

Clarke will continue to serve as chairman of online travel company Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (OWW). He will also continue to serve on the boards of directors of enterprise software companies Red Hat, Inc. (RHT) and Compuware Corp. (CPWR).

Clarke said, "Kodak has made excellent progress, building on one of the most successful reorganizations in recent years, and I look forward to continuing the work underway in transforming Kodak into a global B2B technology leader."

Egon Zehnder assisted Kodak with the CEO search process.

KODK closed Tuesday's trading at $27.21, down $0.53 or 1.91 percent on a volume of 34,460 shares.