Sun Shuffles Execs, Re-aligns Business Unit

Musical Chairs

• By Chris McConnell
• 04/30/2002

In preparation for the coming fiscal year, Sun Microsystems Inc. shuffled some executives around the organization to reflect new business units and replace retiring officers. Most notably, the company put all of its software divisions under a single umbrella.

Current chief strategy officer Jonathan Schwartz will head the new software organization and take the title of executive vice president, software. The new business unit includes all of Sun’s software products from its StarOffice productivity suite to its iPlanet enterprise application servers.

The announcement of the new business unit comes on the heels of Sun’s plans to unify all of its software products under the Sun ONE brand. Some observers speculate Sun is trying to recast itself as an innovator in enterprise software, moving away from its traditional role as a top Unix server vendor.

Schwartz came to Sun in 1996 when the company acquired his Lighthouse Design, Ltd., which made software tools and applications. Schwartz also ran Sun’s product marketing for Java and the software development tools group.

Taking on the role of chief strategy officer is Mark Tolliver, who previously served as executive vice president of marketing and business development. He will also head up a newly consolidated unit, which combines business development, marketing, and strategy organizations.

Two execs are also filling in positions that have opened with retirements. Steve McGowan, presently vice president of finance, planning, and administration for global sales operations will take on the role of executive vice president of corporate resources and CFO, which is being vacated by the retiring Michael Lehman. Similarly, Patricia Sueltz, currently executive vice president of the software systems group, will succeed the retiring Larry Hambly as executive vice president, enterprise services.