Executive Change: Acxiom Names John Meyer as CEO and President

Acxiom Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) announced that its Board of Directors has named John Meyer to serve as the company’s chief executive officer and president.

Meyer, 51, has been president of the Global Services group of Alcatel-Lucent since 2003. Prior to joining Lucent, Meyer spent almost 20 years in a number of high-profile positions at EDS that included Chairman of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Operating Team, President of Diversified Financial Services and Credit Services Divisions, and CIO for the company’s GMAC business. Meyer’s global, multi-industry experience at EDS was marked by numerous successes, including doubling revenue in EMEA from $3.6 billion to $7.2 billion in four years. Before entering the business world, John served as a flight commander and was selected as a captain in the U.S. Air Force.

Michael Durham, Acxiom’s non-executive chairman, said the board unanimously selected Meyer because of his demonstrated strong leadership skills, his broad experience in the information technology industry and his history of success in building shareholder value.

"Since October, the board has been focused on the search for a new leader in its efforts to return Acxiom to sustained success," Durham said. "John commanded our attention because of his strong execution skills, his ability to lead high-performing teams and his track record in driving shareholder value. He has demonstrated these skills at both Alcatel-Lucent and EDS as he ran businesses that are substantially larger and more complex than Acxiom. As we learned more about John, we were equally impressed by his focus on developing internal talent while reaching outside for new skills.

Meyer will join Acxiom on February 4. He also will serve as a member of Acxiom’s board of directors. He succeeds Charles Morgan, a 35-year company veteran who has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1975. Morgan, who announced his retirement in October, will remain a consultant to the company through 2010.

Meyer will be introduced to the financial analyst community during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on January 23.