Citrix Systems announced earlier this week that David Henshall has stepped down as CEO, President, and member of the Board of Directors. Bob Calderoni, Chairman of the Board, has taken over as interim CEO and President with immediate effect.

The company has not disclosed the reason for Henshall's departure, but the sudden change of leadership comes shortly after reports that Citrix shares performed badly in the last year - Bloomberg called it "one of the biggest stock-market losers since the S&P 500 Index hit its pandemic bottom" and subsequently reported that the company was apparently seeking a buyer.

Calderoni, thanking Henshall on behalf of the board, said he had played a key role in executing Citrix's strategy, including accelerating its transition to cloud-based services and improving its products. “David has also been instrumental in helping the Company and our employees navigate the pandemic," Calderoni added.

This will be Calderoni's second stint as Citrix's interim CEO. He previously held the role for several months between 2015-2016 after Mark Templeton retired. He has been on Citrix's board since 2014. Prior to that, he was CFO, then CEO of Ariba, and was also appointed as a member of SAP AG's global managing board from 2012-2014. Before Ariba, he was CFO at Avery Dennison Corporation, Senior Vice President of Finance at Apple, and Vice President of Finance at IBM.

He is currently also a member of the Board of Directors of KLA Tencor and Ansys.

Calderoni is Citrix's fifth CEO in almost as many years. After Templeton's departure and his interim role in 2015, he was succeeded in 2016 by Kirill Tatarinov, who left in 2017 to be succeeded by Henshall, previously Citrix's COO and CFO.