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Zwan hands off top jobs at Digital Lightwave
By JEFF HARRINGTON, Times Staff Writer Digital Lightwave founder and top shareholder Bryan Zwan is stepping down as president and chief executive after a seven-month struggle to turn around the once high-flying Clearwater technology company. Inheriting the top jobs will be James Green, an executive whom Zwan telegraphed as his heir apparent when he promoted him to chief operating officer in January. The company declined to make either Zwan, 54, or Green, 51, available for an interview following the announcement late Tuesday. "They're devoting the remainder of today and a good part of the remainder of the week to employees," Digital spokesman Paul Harris said. But in a statement, Zwan said he planned to stay involved in turnaround efforts, remaining as chairman. "The board had asked me to return to an active role in driving sales of existing products and accelerating new product development," Zwan said in a statement. Zwan said he would focus on potential merger opportunities and on developing the next wave of products for the maker of testing equipment for fiber-optic networks. Green will focus on daily business operations. Simultaneous with the change, Digital reorganized the company into four new operating divisions and elevated vice president and chief financial officer Mark Scott to executive vice president. Zwan, who founded Digital in 1990, has had a tumultuous ride with the company. The popularity of Digital's testing equipment and a no-holds-barred tech boom in the late 1990s briefly turned Digital into one of the the hottest stocks in the country and made Zwan a megamillionaire. The stock plummeted and sales collapsed during the dot-com meltdown. This was Zwan's second stint at running the company. The Bellaire physicist stepped aside previously in late 1998 as he and his company were battling charges of accounting regularities with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also was dogged by concerns that it was a Scientology-run company because of Zwan's close affiliation with the church that has its spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. Zwan's successor, Gerry Chastelet, oversaw the company until January. Zwan, who owns 60 percent of Digital's stock, rejoined Digital's board last October, two days after settling with the SEC. He resumed the CEO role in January when Chastelet abruptly resigned. Zwan's moves to infuse new life into Digital have yet to pay off. The company remains a big player in fiber-optic testing, with a 36 percent market share in the United States. But sales have slumped even further than expected since Zwan's return. For the quarter ended June 30, the company lost $12-million on $4.2-million in revenues compared with a profit of $9.3-million on $34.5-million in revenues in the year-ago quarter. Digital said it would need revenues of $22-million to break even. Shares in Digital closed Tuesday at $1.22, down 1 cent. That compares with $9.76 a share at the start of this year, just before Zwan's return as CEO. -- Jeff Harrington can be reached at harrington@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3407.
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From the Times Business report Robert Trigaux
From the AP
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