News

VeriSign Board Elects New CEO, New Chairman

Stratton D Sclavos Steps Down as Chief Executive Officer and member of Board
Principal Operations Continue to Report to Executive Vice Presidents Mark McLaughlin, John Donovan, Aristotle Balogh and Bob Korzeniewski

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA. - California - May 29, 2007 - VeriSign, Inc (Nasdaq: VRSN), the leading provider of digital infrastructure for the networked world, today announced that its Board of Directors have elected William A Roper, Jr, as President and Chief Executive Officer. He has served as the Board's lead independent Director and replaces Stratton D Sclavos, who resigned from the company. The Board also elected Edward A Mueller as Chairman of the Board.

Roper, who has served as a Director of VeriSign since November 2003, will become a full-time employee of VeriSign. He most recently served as Executive Vice President of Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI), a diversified technology services company. He also served as SAIC's Chief Financial Officer from 1990 to 2000, and played a leadership role in Network Solutions from the time of its acquisition by SAIC in 1995 until its merger into VeriSign in 2000. Network Solutions included the domain name registry business that is central to VeriSign's business.

'VeriSign is a highly respected company with an attractive business model and leading positions in growing markets. The board remains committed to our strategy, and is pleased with the early results of the restructuring programme we began this year,' said Roper. 'I look forward to working with VeriSign's management team to capitalise on the company's growth opportunities while ensuring the strongest possible emphasis on managerial discipline and execution.'

The company's principal operations continue to report to:

• Mark D McLaughlin , Executive Vice President of the Products , Marketing and Customer Care organisation. He is responsible for VeriSign 's product strategy, product management , product development , corporate and product marketing and customer care. Since joining VeriSign in 2000, he has served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Information Services Division ; Senior Vice President , Deputy General Manager , Registry Services ; Vice President , Corporate Business Development ; and Vice President , General Manager , Payment Services.
• John Donovan , Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Services , who is responsible for VeriSign 's global sales and consulting organisation. He joined VeriSign when , in 2006, it acquired inCode Wireless , of which he was Chairman and CEO. Previously , he served as a partner of Deloitte Consulting and as Americas Industry Practice director for telecoms.
• Aristotle Balogh , Chief Technology Officer and head of Global Product Development , who leads all areas of product development and technology deployment. Balogh previously served as Executive Vice President of Operations and Infrastructure and as Vice President of Engineering for the VeriSign Global Registry Service. Before joining VeriSign , Balogh held a variety of management and engineering roles at SRA Corporation , UPS 's Roadnet Technologies, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
• Bob Korzeniewski , Executive Vice President for Corporate Development , who is responsible for providing a consistent strategy and focus for investments and merger and acquisition activity. Under his leadership , the company has completed approximately 40 acquisitions and extended its strategic relationships with key technology partners. He served as CFO of Network Solutions from 1996 until its merger with VeriSign in 2000. 

Mr Mueller, who joined VeriSign's Board in March 2005, is the former CEO of Williams-Sonoma, a speciality retailer. In 1968 he joined SBC Communications (now AT&T) and served as chief executive of several business units, including Ameritech from 2000 to 2002, SBC International Operations from 1999 to 2000, Pacific Bell from 1997 to 1999 and Southwestern Bell Telephone Company from 1994 to 1997.

'We thank Stratton Sclavos for all he has accomplished for VeriSign,' said Mueller. 'Over the last 12 years, he helped establish VeriSign as a global corporation that millions of consumers and businesses rely on every day as they interact on the world's voice and data networks. We wish him continued success in the future.'

Sclavos said, 'I want to thank the people of VeriSign for their support and contributions over the past 12 years. I am proud of my role in building VeriSign into the great company it has become, and wish all of my associates the very best in the coming years.'

As previously disclosed, the review of the company's historical share option grant practices by an ad hoc group of independent members of VeriSign's Board of Directors is substantially completed. The review did not find intentional wrongdoing by any current member of senior management, including Sclavos.

VeriSign's 2007 Analyst Day, previously scheduled for June 6 at VeriSign's corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California, has been postponed until a later date.

Today's Conference Call

VeriSign will host a live teleconference call today at 5.30 am (PDT) to introduce Roper and Mueller. The call will be accessible by direct dial at (800) 819-9193 (US) or +1-913-981-4911 (international). A listen-only live webcast as well as a replay will also be available at http://investor.verisign.com. A replay of this call will be available at (888) 203-1112 or +1-719-457-0820 (passcode: 6114819) beginning at 7.00 am (PDT) on May 29 and will run through to June 1. This press release is available on the Investor Relations section of the VeriSign website at http://investor.verisign.com.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), operates intelligent infrastructure services that enable and protect billions of interactions every day across the world's voice and data networks. Additional news and information about the company is available at www.verisign.ch

For more information, contact:
Ken Saunders, Hill & Knowlton, +44 (0)20 7413 3193 / +44 (0)7830 123 145, ksaunders@hillandknowlton.com

Forward-Looking Statement  
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results due to such factors as the inability of VeriSign to successfully develop and market new products and services and customer acceptance of any new products or services, including VeriSign's plans to install and operate regional resolution servers; the possibility that VeriSign's announced new services may not result in additional customers, profits or revenues; and increased competition and pricing pressures. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.