Novell Appoints Jim Ebzery to Lead Identity and Security Business

Novell today appointed Jim Ebzery as senior vice president, Identity and Security. Formerly president of the Viisage Division of L-1 Identity Solutions and a long-time IBM executive, Ebzery brings both deep technical and extensive business expertise to the role. Ebzery will be responsible for leading product development, product marketing and strategy for the identity and Security business unit, overseeing one of Novell's key growth areas.

"Our identity and Security technologies are the foundation of our enterprise management services, one of the two pillars, along with Linux, of Novell's business," said Jeff Jaffe, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Novell. "We need an executive who can really drive this business forward aggressively. Jim knows this space inside and out, and he's got hands-on experience creating solutions that respond to real customer needs. He's a strong addition to our leadership team."

Ebzery, 47, brings to Novell more than two decades of experience in the technology industry. Most recently, he served as president of the Viisage Division of L-1 Identity Solutions, a leading identity management vendor. He served as senior vice president for sales and marketing at Viisage from 2002 until 2006, when the company was acquired by L-1 Identity Solutions. Prior to Viisage, Ebzery spent two years at the Internet Capital Group as vice president of operations. Ebzery began his career in sales at IBM, then rose over a 17-year period to sales management, business development and executive roles, serving is his last position as worldwide solutions executive for the IBM supply chain business. Ebzery has a bachelor of science degree from Boston College in Computer Science.

"Novell has long been a leader in helping companies secure and manage their mixed IT environments," said Ebzery. "As more business and personal information and transactions move online, the identity and Security challenges organizations face are growing exponentially. Novell's enterprise management services are among the strongest offerings on the market today, and I look forward to driving forward the technical excellence – and business value – for which Novell solutions are known."

With the appointment of Ebzery, Kent Erickson, who had been serving as the vice president of both Novell's Workgroup Solutions and its Identity and Security business units, will focus full-time on Workgroup Solutions.