Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater USA, announced Monday he has stepped down as chief executive of the security company, which was recently renamed Xe following a scandal over civilian deaths in Iraq.
Prince named a new president and a new chief operating officer of the North Carolina-based company, and said he would focus on an unrelated private security venture.
"After a lengthy process of identifying the right people for the job, I am pleased to announce that we have two very capable individuals ready to sit at the company's helm," Prince said in a statement.
The company said Prince, 39, who will retain his post as chairman, was stepping down as part of a reorganization that followed the departure of key personnel.
"I'm a little worn out by the whole thing, the politics of it all," Prince told the Wall Street Journal. "Me not being part of the equation reduces the 'X' on the thing."
The company, which made hundreds of millions of dollars protecting State Department officials in war zones, was banned from working in Iraq two months ago because of a 2007 incident in which 17 civilians were killed by Blackwater guards.
An Iraqi investigation found that 17 civilians were killed and 20 wounded when Blackwater guards opened fire with automatic weapons in Baghdad while escorting an American diplomatic convoy.
US prosecutors say 14 civilians were killed in the incident. Five former Blackwater guards pleaded not guilty in January to manslaughter charges.
Prince, a flamboyant former Navy Seal and backer of Republican causes, founded the company as Blackwater USA in 1997 and flourished on government contracts providing protective services and training security personnel.
The company's new president is Joseph Yorio, 44, a former army special forces officer and most recently a vice president of DHL.
The new chief operating officer and executive vice president is Danielle Esposito, 32, who has worked for Blackwater in various capacities for the past decade, the company said.
Despite widespread criticism of its guards conduct in Iraq, Prince defended the company's record, notably never having a State Department official under its protection killed or injured.
"The PR challenges were far more relevant than I thought they would be," he told the Wall Street Journal. "I thought we operated in a meritocracy."
