Townsend Security announced today that, due to medical reasons, John Earl has stepped down as president and CEO of the company he led for more than two years. The move is effective immediately, and Patrick Townsend has returned to his former position as CEO.

Earl brought his extensive background in security and management to the company, which resulted in expanded partnerships and unprecedented growth, according to Townsend.

Under Earl's leadership, the company increased gross revenues by 50 percent, Townsend told MC Press Online. Earl grew the company and brought on several key hires, who are still with the firm. He expanded the company's relationship with Microsoft and was involved in deals to include Townsend encryption and key management technology into OEM and VAR products.

"Our relationship with Microsoft started and matured during [John's] tenure. We already had the key management technology, which we brought to the i platform, but we're doing encryption of databases now for Microsoft, so certainly that whole relationship with Microsoft he drove and helped manage," Townsend said.

"On the IBM i platform, we went through a major release of both our AES encryption product for DB2/400 and for our managed FTP solution. John brought new processes and structure to that, and we announced two major product releases on the IBM i platform, and made over 200 enhancements just to our Alliance FTP Manager in the release that came out at the end of last year. It was a busy period."

Asked what the implications of Earl's departure are for the company, Townsend replied: "We've got a lot of talent here with the management team, so we're not too worried about succession right now…[John 's departure] certainly was a big change for us, but I'm benefitting from a lot of the work that he did. He made so many positive changes for us that it's a lot easier to follow in his footsteps."

Townsend said he moved into the role of chief technology officer during the time that Earl was president and CEO in order to oversee the development of new technology, and he will be looking to fill the CTO spot in the coming months. Meanwhile, the company of about 25 is growing and is planning on hiring about five new customer service and business development employees.

Earl, who was named president and CEO of Townsend in July 2009, has nearly 30 years experience in the IBM midrange market. He was co-founder of the PowerTech Group and was vice president and chief technology officer. Earl is a widely recognized System i (AS/400) security expert, serves as a subject matter expert for security with COMMON, and is a former board member of the user group.

"John has been a shining star in the security world and we are sure that you will join us in wishing him well," said Townsend in a prepared statement.

Chris Smith was the Senior News Editor at MC Press Online from 2007 to 2012 and was responsible for the news content on the company's Web site. Chris has been writing about the IBM midrange industry since 1992 when he signed on with Duke Communications as West Coast Editor of News 3X/400. With a bachelor's from the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in English and minored in Journalism, and a master's in Journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Chris later studied computer programming and AS/400 operations at Long Beach City College. An award-winning writer with two Maggie Awards, four business books, and a collection of poetry to his credit, Chris began his newspaper career as a reporter in northern California, later worked as night city editor for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, and went on to edit a national cable television trade magazine. He was Communications Manager for McDonnell Douglas Corp. in Long Beach, Calif., before it merged with Boeing, and oversaw implementation of the company's first IBM desktop publishing system there. An editor for MC Press Online since 2007, Chris has authored some 300 articles on a broad range of topics surrounding the IBM midrange platform that have appeared in the company's eight industry-leading newsletters. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..