John Visentin, CEO and vice chairman of Norwalk-headquartered Xerox Holdings Corp., has died at the age of 59.
The company issued a statement announcing that Visentin “unexpectedly passed away yesterday due to complications from an ongoing illness.” Steve Bandrowczak, Xerox”™s president and chief operations officer since 2018, was named interim CEO.
Visentin was installed as Xerox”™s chief executive following the company”™s aborted merger with Fujifilm Holdings. Activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who led the effort to prevent the merger, called for Visentin to replace CEO Jeffrey Jacobson ”“ Visentin had previously been an adviser to the chairman at Exela Technologies, an automation company, and an operating partner at the private equity firm Advent International.
Under Visentin”™s leadership, Xerox embarked on a failed hostile takeover bid of HP, which was terminated at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the company regained its footing with acquisitions of smaller U.S. and Canadian companies that expanded its digital services operations. He also spearheaded a corporate restructuring that created three businesses focused on software, financing and innovation.
James Nelson, chairman of Xerox”™s board of directors praised Visentin as a “champion for innovation [who] embraced and enhanced Xerox”™s legacy as a print and services provider and embarked on a transformative journey that broadened the company”™s expertise and offerings to digital and IT services, financial services and disruptive technologies.”
