Management & Strategy

Symantec Names Former Best Buy, Starbucks Exec as Chief Operating Officer

Stephen Gillett Named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer At Symantec

Symantec on Wednesday announced that Stephen Gillett has been appointed as executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company.

Mike Lennon

December 20, 2012

Stephen Gillett Named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer At Symantec

Symantec on Wednesday announced that Stephen Gillett has been appointed as executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company.

Starting his new position on Friday, December 21, 2012, Gillett will report directly to chairman and chief executive officer, Steve Bennett, the company said.

Gillett joins Symantec from Best Buy where he led the company’s digital unit and was responsible for the company’s digital, e-commerce, marketing, information technology, customer insights, enterprise strategy, corporate development, new business ventures, enterprise customer care, and channel design.

While Gillett has been a member of the Symantec board of directors since January 2012, he has stepped down effective this week.

The company said that when Gillett starts at the company on Friday, his initial responsibilities will include marketing, communications, and IT, with additional responsibilities being added as the company executes a planned strategy announcement in late January.

Prior to a rather short run at Best Buy, Gillett served as chief information officer and executive vice president, Digital Ventures at Starbucks. During his run at Starbucks, Gillett was named to Fortune’s “Executive Dream Team” as one of only two CIOs among the 25 executives recognized, and has been named Information Week’s “Chief of the Year” and to Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list.

Earlier positions in his career include executive roles at Corbis, Yahoo and CNET.

“Stephen is the perfect fit for the direction we are taking Symantec,” said Bennett. “He has been deeply involved in the transformation of a number of high profile companies at the executive level and is highly respected in the CIO community worldwide.”

Gillett will operate out of Symantec’s Mountain View, California headquarters in. He holds a BS from the University of Oregon and an MBA from San Francisco State University.

According to his corporate bio, Gillett is an avid gamer and an active player of World of Warcraft. He is also active on Twitter at @stephengillett.

Written By Mike Lennon

For more than 10 years, Mike Lennon has been closely monitoring the threat landscape and analyzing trends in the National Security and enterprise cybersecurity space. In his role at SecurityWeek, he oversees the editorial direction of the publication and is the Director of several leading security industry conferences around the world.

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