Technology Giants Microsoft, Amazon, SAP & Others: Board and Leadership Moves

Samer Abu Ltaif has been appointed as the new President for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Abu Ltaif, who joined Microsoft in 2004, has held many senior roles within the organization including regional director for enterprise and partner group across MEA. Most recently, he was the Regional General Manager of Microsoft Gulf.

Amazon Appoints Louis Castle as Head of Its Seattle Game-Production Studio 

Amazon.com has appointed Louis Castle as head of the company's Seattle game-production studio. Currently, Castle serves at Castle Production Services as executive, creative, artistic and technical director. He also serves at Westwood Studios as its co-founder. Previously, he also worked for Shuffle Master and Zynga.

Facebook Names CAO, Head Global Music Strategy/BD and New Head of Development

Facebook appointed Susan Taylor, to serve as Chief Accounting Officer of the company (including as its Principal Accounting Officer). Jas Athwal, the company’s previous Chief Accounting Officer, notified the company of his intent to resign. Taylor is the VP, Controller, and Chief Accounting Officer of LinkedIn, having served in such roles since January 2012. Prior, Taylor was the VP, Controller, and CAO of Silver Spring Networks.

Facebook has hired Tamara Hrivnak to head its global music strategy and business development. The former director of music partnerships at YouTube and Google Play is a veteran of the music business, having spent almost eight years at Warner Music Group and Warner/Chappell before joining Google in 2011.

Mina Lefevre will join the Facebook team as head of development and will work to create content for the social network.

Cisco Systems Appoints Allergan Chair/CEO to its Board of Directors     

Cisco Systems appointed Brenton L. Saunders, 47, Chairman, CEO and President of Allergan, to its Board of Directors. He was a co-founder of Health Care Compliance Association in 1995. He has significant healthcare industry expertise and led various business transformations and integrations.

SAP Appoints General Manager of SAP Digital Commerce 

SAP appointed Madhur Aggarwal as general manager of SAP Digital Commerce, reporting to chief digital officer Jonathan Becher. Madhur has been instrumental in the creation and growth of SAPs digital business since its inception in 2015, and has had multiple roles on the team, from COO to chief product owner. In those roles, he has demonstrated extraordinary passion and dedication to SAPs digital success.

Qualcomm Chief Accounting Officer Leaves for AdobeJohn Murphy

John Murphy, SVP and Chief Accounting Officer (Principal Accounting Officer) of Qualcomm resigned to pursue other opportunities. George S. Davis, the company's EVP and CFO, will serve as the company's Principal Accounting Officer, in addition to his continued service as CFO (Principal Financial Officer). Davis previously served as both the company's Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer upon joining the company in March 2013 until Murphy's hiring in September 2014.

Broadcom Directors Justine F. Page Decides Not to Stand for Re-Election to the Board

Justine F. Page informed the board of directors of Broadcom Limited that she would not be standing for re-election. Page will step down from the board to pursue academic and other interests. Page served as the CFO, VP of Finance, Treasurer, and Secretary of Integrated Circuit Systems from 1999 to 2005 when ICS merged with Integrated Device Technologies, following which Page retired.

Accenture Appoints New Senior Managing Director, Products and Leader for Fjord Studio in Dublin      

Accenture announced the appointment of Laura Gurski as Senior Managing Director, Products. Gurski joins Accenture from A.T. Kearney and brings more than 20 years’ consulting experience at the firm. In her most recent role, she led its services and industry practices, overseeing 3,500 consultants. Previously, she was head of the company’s global Consumer Products & Retail practice, where she focused on driving profitability through growth strategy and organization transformation.

Accenture Interactive and Fjord announced that Lorna Ross will head up a new Fjord design studio based in Dublin. Her appointment marks a return to her homeland after spending most of her career in the United States, most recently having completed an eight-year tenure at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As design director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation, she focused on innovating the experience and delivery of health services for Mayo patients and clinic staff.

TCS Announces CFO and COO Appointments

TCS announced V Ramakrishnan has been appointed as the CFO. Ramakrishnan takes over from Rajesh Gopinathan, who has been appointed as the CEO & Managing Director of TCS. Ramakrishnan joined TCS Finance in 1999 and served as the Finance head of TCS North America for 7 years. Ramakrishnan closely partnered with business in the rapid growth of TCS' operations in the region. Most recently he has been responsible for the financial controllership of TCS subsidiaries and branches globally and various merger & acquisitions integration initiatives.

N. Ganapathy Subramaniam would assume the office of COO and Executive Director. Subramaniam is currently the President of TCS Financial Solutions.

Baidu Appoints Microsoft Exec as President and COO

Baidu appointed Dr. Qi Lu as Baidu's Group President and COO, in charge of products, technology, sales, marketing and operations, effective immediately. Prior to joining Baidu, Dr. Lu served as Microsoft's Global EVP and led one of Microsoft's three business units. In 2013, Dr. Lu was appointed as Microsoft's Global EVP and was put in charge of its Office business.

Adobe Combines Chair-CEO Roles and Appoints Lead Director; Hires Chief Accounting Officer from QualcommShantanu Narayen

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has elected Shantanu Narayen as Chairman of the Board. Narayen will continue in his role as President and CEO of Adobe and succeeds Co-Chairs and Co-Founders of the company, John Warnock and Chuck Geschke, who will remain on the Board.

The company also announced that board member Jim Daley, a 35-year Price Waterhouse veteran and prior CFO of a publicly traded technology company, has been named Lead Director to ensure continued sound corporate governance. Daley has been a board member since 2001 and was formerly the head of the audit committee.

John F. Murphy, 48, was appointed to the position of SVP, Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller (Principal Accounting Officer) of Adobe Systems. Mark Garrett, Adobe’s CFO, will continue to serve as interim Principal Accounting Officer until the commencement of Murphy’s employment with the Company. Murphy has served as SVP and Chief Accounting Officer of Qualcomm since September 2014. He previously served as SVP, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of DIRECTV, and VP and General Auditor of DIRECTV.

PayPal Announces Regional Executive Changes      

PayPal has appointed Federico Zambelli Hosmer as the new general manager of its Italian unit. Previously head of small and medium business, Western Europe, Zambelli Hosmer has been tasked with ensuring that PayPal becomes the daily payment partner of choice for a growing number of Italians. He replaces Angelo Meregalli, who becomes director of the commercial solutions and integration team for Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa after heading PayPay Italia for over four years.

Yahoo! Announces Resignation of Ronald Bell as General Counsel and Secretary   

Ronald Bell resigned as Yahoo! General Counsel and Secretary and from all other positions with the company. Yahoo announced that general counsel Ron Bell is leaving the tech giant after an investigation of the company revealed that its legal team failed to sufficiently inquire into a massive 2014 cybersecurity breach.

Yahoo! Announces New CEO and Other Senior Leaders for AltabaThomas McInerney

As Yahoo! prepares to join Verizon, it has revealed that its remaining business under the Altaba entity will be run by its board member Thomas McInerney, 52, the former EVP & CFO of IAC/InterActiveCorp.

Altaba was created in January to be an investment company, when Yahoo! announced that, following the close of its merger with Verizon, what's left of the company will be changing its name to Altaba. Altaba will be managing assets in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan, along with some non-core patents not included in the Verizon sale. It’s a successor to Aabaco, which was created by Yahoo’s board in 2015 but ultimately stalled after the company decided to do a “reverse spin-off” instead.

McInerney has served as a member of Yahoo’s Board since April 2012. He is former EVP and CFO of IAC/InterActiveCorp. He also served as CEO of the retailing division of IAC (which included HSN and Cornerstone Brands). Prior, McInerney served as EVP and CFO of Ticketmaster and worked as a Principal at Morgan Stanley.  McInerney serves on the boards of directors of HSN, Interval Leisure Group and Match Group.

The newly-announced CEO was named chairman of Yahoo’s strategic review committee last spring when the company fell under pressure to avoid a proxy battle with activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP.

Current Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer will be departing the company with a severance totaling to $23 million, according to a proxy statement filed by Yahoo!.

Joining McInerney at Altaba are current Yahoo! executives and outside advisors Arthur Chong, 63, who will be General Counsel and Secretary, Alexi Wellman, 46, who is the new Chief Financial and Accounting Officer, and DeAnn Fairfield Work, 47, who is joining as Chief Compliance Officer.

Chong served as an outside legal advisor to Yahoo! from October 2016. Prior to that, he served as a special advisor to Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, a law firm. Previously, he served as EVP, General Counsel and Secretary at Broadcom and EVP and Chief Legal Officer at Safeco.

Wellman has served as VP, Global Controller of Yahoo! since October 2015, being promoted from VP, Finance. Before Yahoo!, Wellman served as CFO of Nebraska Book Company, which owned and operated college bookstores, and was a Partner at KPMG.

Work has served as an outside legal advisor to Yahoo! since December 2016. From December 2012 to February 2016, she served as SVP, Senior Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Broadcom. Before that, she was VP and Deputy General Counsel of Broadcom..

Applied Materials Names Long Time Director and Former HP Exec as Board Chairman  

Applied Materials announced Thomas J. Iannotti as chairman of the Board. Iannotti succeeds Willem P. Roelandts, who has retired from the board. Iannotti joined Applied’s board in 2005. Prior to being named chairman, he served as chair of the board’s Human Resources and Compensation Committee and was a member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. He spent nine years as an executive at Hewlett-Packard Company, including SVP and General Manager, Enterprise Services from 2009 to 2011.

Electronic Arts’ Chief Competition Officer to Leave

Leading global interactive entertainment software company Electronic Arts announced that Peter Moore, EVP and Chief Competition Officer, will be leaving EA. His departure will be effective the end of May 2017.

TE Connectivity Announces Retirement of Juergen W. Gromer as Director         

Juergen W. Gromer has reached the Board’s retirement age of 72 and therefore, in accordance with the Board’s retirement policy, was not nominated for re-election as a director of TE Connectivity. Gromer served as the President of TE Connectivity from 1999 to 2007.

Analog Devices Elects Co-Founder at Linear Technology to Serve as Director     

Analog Devices entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with Linear Technology Corporation and Tahoe Acquisition Corp. The Company elected Robert H. Swanson, Jr., Co-Founder at Linear Technology, to serve as a director for a term continuing to the Company's next annual meeting of shareholders next year.

Former Accenture CEO Not to Stand for Reelection to First Data Board   

Joe W. Forehand will not run for reelection as a director when his term expires at First Data Board. Forehand is former Chairman of the board and former CEO of Accenture.

ServiceNow Announces New CEO  John Donahoe

ServiceNow has named John Donahoe President and CEO. Donahoe was formerly President and CEO of eBay. Current President, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Frank Slootman will continue as Chairman upon stepping down from his management role. Donahoe currently serves as Chairman of the Board at PayPal. He served as President and CEO of eBay from 2008 to 2015, where he oversaw the eBay, PayPal and eBay Enterprise businesses.

Motorola Solutions Elects Former Emotient CEO to its Board

Motorola Solutions announced that Ken Denman has been elected to its board of directors. Denman was previously President and CEO of Emotient. He also held CEO positions at two Silicon Valley software companies Openwave Systems and iPass, and was COO – Wireless, for MediaOne International. Denman currently serves on the board of ShoreTel and Mitek.

Motorola Solutions has also appointed Sirio Magliocca as General Manager and President for the Italian market. Sirio, who has been with the Motorola Solutions since 1986, leads the company's channel business in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta, responsible for reseller networks, marketing and sales activity. In his role as General Manager, he will lead the development and implementation of business strategies in Italy for both government and commercial sectors.

Advanced Micro Devices Announces Board Changes     

Martin Edelman resigned as a member of the Board of Directors after four years of service on the AMD Board. The Board appointed John W. Marren as an independent director to the Board. Marren's 30-year career spans both the financial and technology industries, with a deep focus on semiconductors. He retired from Texas Pacific Group (TPG) Capital in 2015 after spending 16 years at the firm as senior partner and head of technology investments.

Global Payments Appoints Member of the Board and Promotes CFO to Senior EVP Level

Global Payments appointed William B. Plummer as a member of the Board. Plummer has served as the EVP and CFO of United Rentals. He also serves as a director of John Wiley & Sons.

The company announced the promotion of Cameron M. Bready to Senior EVP and CFO. In this role, Bready will continue to lead the company's global finance organization, including corporate finance, business financial services, accounting and tax, as well as worldwide corporate development initiatives. Bready joined Global Payments in June 2014 as EVP and CFO.

NetApp Appoints SVP for its Cloud Business Unit           

NetApp appointed Anthony Lye as SVP, Cloud Business Unit. Lye drives the strategy and execution necessary to create a profitable cloud business for NetApp and establish the company as the undisputed leader in managing data in a cloud-integrated world. Lye brings more than 25 years of diverse leadership experience to NetApp, spanning roles in development, product management, marketing, sales, and as a high-tech CEO. Prior to his role as EVP and chief cloud officer at Guidewire Software, he served as president & CEO for HotSchedules.

Twitter Announces More Executive Departures       

Two more executives announced their departures from Twitter. Lara Cohen stepped down as head of entertainment talent, while David Bicknell stepped down as director of finance.

Juniper Networks Announces Couple of Management Changes               

Juniper Networks announced that Kevin Hutchins, the company’s SVP, Strategy and Business Development, has been appointed to serve in a newly created position as the company’s SVP, Strategy and Product Line Management, and Andy Athreya, the company’s SVP, Engineering, has been appointed as the company’s SVP, Chief Development Officer.

Hutchins has been responsible for strategy and business development and has been instrumental in defining and enabling Juniper’s corporate strategy through organic and inorganic growth. He now assumes responsibility for Product Line Management. He is a six plus year veteran of Juniper Networks and prior to Juniper, he held leadership roles in strategy, corporate development and general management at IBM and Lockheed Martin.

Athreya has been an engineering leader at Juniper since 2004 and has held various leadership positions within the routing and security products groups. He has consistently delivered successful products to market for Juniper’s customers across routing, security, and Junos software.

Jonathan Davidson, EVP and General Manager, Juniper Development and Innovation, notified the Company of his intention to resign from the Company.

Date Range: February 9th - March 14th