By Dean Seal

Evolv Technology named a new chief executive after an investigation into the company's financial reporting kicked off an exodus of executives in recent months.

The maker of security-screening products Monday said the board has hired John Kedzierski to be its CEO, starting Dec. 16. He was previously a senior vice president at Motorola Solutions, responsible for its global sales efforts.

Kedzierski takes over from Michael Ellenbogen, the company co-founder and chief innovation officer who has been serving as interim CEO since Evolv fired Peter George from the top role in late October.

George was terminated without cause amid an internal investigation into Evolv's sales and financial-reporting practices. Days earlier, Evolv said it believed $4 million to $6 million of revenue had been prematurely or incorrectly recognized as a result of terms and conditions on certain sales to channel partners.

The company said at the time that it had been evaluating its leadership and performance before it became aware of the financial-reporting issues.

About a month later, the company said Chief Financial Officer Mark Donohue had resigned and that the investigation had led to four other employees being either terminated or resigning. The four other employees included personnel from Evolv's sales, accounting and finance departments.

The board's audit committee found that certain accounting personnel were aware of the issue and that related allegations were raised internally, but not to the audit committee or Evolv's accounting firm.

The committee further reported that the vast majority of $4 million to $6 million in revenue from a two-year span through June 30 was prematurely recognized and would be recognized again in future periods. Evolv plans to restate financials for the affected prior periods.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2024 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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