Gary Forsee has officially stepped down as chairman, president and CEO of Sprint Nextel Corp., the company announced Monday.  A committee of the company’s board of directors is currently looking for a replacement.

In the meantime, Board Member James Hance, Jr. will assume the role of acting non-executive chairman of the board, which will also comprise the position of lead independent director, currently held by Irvine Hockaday.  In addition, current CFO Paul Saleh will serve as acting CEO until a permanent successor to Forsee is found.

In a recent statement, Hockaday said that Sprint Nextel’s decision to search for a new CEO came from the board’s belief that the time has come to put new leadership in place to move the company forward in improving its performance and realizing corporate objectives.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ralph Whitworth, an activist investor with Relational Investors, recently took a position with Sprint Nextel and was vocal about removing Forsee, threatening a proxy fight for an undisclosed number of board seats unless company directors dealt with Sprint Nextel's leadership.

Of course, this isn't the first time Whitworth has had his eyes fixed on the ousting of a CEO.  He's also had a hand in the resignations of CEOs Robert Nardelli of Home Depot and Jay Sidhu of Sovereign Bancorp, companies from which Whitworth's firm identified as under-performing.