Following its recent leadership vacuum, VMware (VMW) has appointed Ray O’Farrell as chief technology officer and chief development officer, responsible for managing the virtualization company’s R&D business units and leading its CTO team. The appointment is effective immediately.

O’Farrell will continue to report to Pat Gelsinger, VMware’s chief executive officer, according to the announcement.

“As VMware continues to evolve its research and development efforts, Ray O’Farrell will work in close partnership with our business unit leaders and world-class R&D teams to drive industry-leading innovation,” said Gelsinger, in a statement. “He brings extensive and invaluable experience in managing a wide range of our global R&D teams as well as developing and releasing many of our most impactful products.”

Prior to his new role, O’Farrell served as general manager for VMware’s Software-Defined Data Center division. He joined the company in 2003 as senior vice president of R&D for the company’s Cloud Infrastructure unit, according to LinkedIn.

O’Farrell will replace Ben Fathi, who left VMware last week after serving as chief technology officer for three years. Fathi was one of several high-level executives to resign from the virtualization company in the past month, including Chief Strategist Chuck Hollis and co-channel chiefs Todd Surdey and David O’Callaghan. VMware has yet to announce new executives for the rest of its still-vacant leadership roles.