Palm Getting a New Chief Financial Officer

Douglas C. Jeffries, previously chief accounting officer at eBay, will join Palm, Inc. in January as its Chief Financial Officer.

Ed Colligan, Palm president and CEO, said, "I am delighted to welcome Doug Jeffries to the Palm team. His extensive financial, operational, and strategic experience will contribute enormously to Palm's future success."

In addition to his role as chief accounting officer at eBay, Jeffries has held financial and information technology leadership roles at GenCorp, Red Herring Communications, and Cardinal Health. Jeffries began his career at Price Waterhouse, is a CPA, and holds an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Jeffries is replacing Andy Brown, who joined the company at the beginning of 2005 when it was still named palmOne. Brown said, "My experience at Palm has been exciting and fulfilling, but the time is right for me to pursue other interests. Palm's finance organization is well-positioned to support the company's strategic and financial objectives, and I am leaving the many responsibilities of the CFO role in exceptionally capable hands."

Not an Easy Job

Doug Jeffries will assume the role of Palm's senior vice president and CFO on Jan. 7, and will be joining a company in an unenviable position.

Palm is in the process of bringing out products based on a new mobile operating system -- one that will face strong competition from the likes of Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others. In the mean time, its current product lineup is aging and sales are dropping.

Many of its investors have lost hope, and Palm's stock price has been battered in recent months.

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