One of the identity industry’s best-known CEO’s – James Ziglar at Cross Match Technologies – has announced his retirement from the company effective August this year. No replacement has yet been announced.

Ziglar joined Cross Match as president and CEO in August 2005. During his tenure, Cross Match made major strides forward, transforming itself into a powerhouse in the area of biometric identity solutions for governments and commercial enterprises.

Ziglar is retiring after a 44-year career spanning investment banking, law, academia, and service in the federal government. His most recent service in the federal government was as the last Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Inevitably, someone like Ziglar isn’t about to bow out of the industry completely, however. He told Identity Loop: “I am retiring but not disappearing. I will continue to pursue my interest in ID management issues from an academic perch at Migration Policy Institute.”

At MPI he has accepted an appointment as a Senior Fellow. MPI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank, based in Washington, D.C., and is dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. Ziglar will focus primarily on immigration policy and border control and security initiatives.