Citrix Systems, Inc. has landed itself a new CEO and president in the shape of ex-Microsoft executive Kirill Tatarinov.

Tatarinov held a variety of positions during his eight year tenure at Microsoft, acting as its president and executive vice president, as well as holding down a role as corporate vice president of its Business Solutions Division, where he oversaw Dynamics CRM and ERP.

Tatarinov’s spell at Microsoft came to an end shortly after the appointment of Satya Nadella as CEO. Last June, Nadella announced a major reshuffle of the company’s senior leadership that saw Tatarinov leave to “explore new opportunities”.

Still, Nadella had some good things to say about Tatarinov, acknowledging that his leadership helped to grow Microsoft’s Dynamics division into a $2 billion a year business.

Citrix clearly believes Tatarinov is the man to bring similar success to its own business. In a statement, the company said “Kirill’s strong product management background and extensive technology leadership experience make him the right person to oversee Citrix’s innovation and growth strategy.”

Tatarinov’s appointment comes following a busy few weeks at Citrix, which sells virtualization and networking technologies. The company has just sold off its cloud management products to Accelerite Inc., whilst acquiring Comtrade’s SCOM management packs to boost its own networking and virtualization solutions.

Last November, the company also said it was to spin off its popular GoTo product line, which includes its GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting apps, as a separate entity. This reshuffle will lead to a number of layoffs, with 1,000 of its 9,000-strong workforce facing the axe.

Citrix is clearly in the middle of a big reorganization wherein its dumping non-core products to focus on its core mission. The company has indicated it intends to focus on core products like XenServer and NetScalr instead, and possibly its Citrix Workplace Cloud, but this change of focus might well be beyond its control.

That’s because Citrix is unlucky enough to have found itself a target of the notorious ‘activist investment’ firm Elliott Management Inc. – the very same company that bought a $1 million stake in EMC Corp. and forced it to sell itself to Dell Inc. in a blockbuster $67 billion deal.

Reuters says Elliott had also called for Citrix to explore the sale of NetScaler, which would indicate that many of the changes taking place at the company might not have happened had the investment firm not gotten involved.

It’s not clear if Tatarinov’s appointment was a result of pressure from Elliott but it’s likely that the investment firm approves of the new hire. One thing we do know is, investors seem pleased at the news, with Citrix’s stock price jumping by 0.65 percent to $66.50.

Still, most ratings agencies and Elliott agree that Citrix should be doing better than it currently is, and it seems likely that Tatarinov will be compelled to make further changes once he settles down behind the desk.

Image credit: Citrix via wikipedia