Embattled CEO out at Fair Isaac

Holy smokes my phone is ringing off the hook.

Tom Grudnowski, Fair Isaac's CEO, resigned today.  While it is immediately effective the rumor is that he will be hanging around for a few months until a suitable replacement can be found.

Tom replaced Larry Rosenberger several years ago in a move that infuriated employees.  Larry ran a tight ship but was a true "man of credit scoring" and still serves as a superstar in the organization's R&D group.

Tom's "Andersen way" was never really accepted at FICO's Marin Country headquarters.  Some of the more notable Grudnowski events include the infamous "why aren't there any cars in the parking lot on the weekend" email berating employees for not putting in more time outside of the typical Monday thru Friday work week.  And, his broken promise to move to Marin County when he took the job as CEO. 

Tom, from the Twin Cities area in Minneapolis, eventually moved the company's corporate headquarters to downtown Minneapolis.  It's a move that his internal reputation never recovered from.

Within a few days of his hiring Tom granted an interview with the Wall Street Journal where he told the reporter that he improved his credit scores by closing unused credit card accounts.  This, of course, was untrue, as most credit scoring experts know that closing credit card accounts can actually lower your scores. The running joke in the hallways was that Tom was no longer allowed to talk to the press about the inner workings of his company's core product since he obviously didn't know anything about it. 

We'll have more details on this breaking news as they become available but it's is very safe to say that there's a lot of wine being consumed in wine country right about now.

Comments

[Randy Johnson]

I certainly hope that this means that FICO will start listening to consumer interest groups, such as ours.

Check my latest blog.

Have a nice weekend.