Kathy Lanterman has been CFO at Silicon Graphics since 2006, having been with the company over 10 years. She’s due to step down on November 10th, and will stay for a few weeks to help the transition to the new CFO. Kathy had been a VP and corporate controller since early 2002.
Replacing her is Greg Wood, who’s a bit of a wild card. He doesn’t appear to have much of a background with ‘hard’ technology companies, with a portfolio that includes marketing, DRM and interactive TV companies. He’s held executive financial positions for over 25 years, so clearly has lots of experience – but will this be a case of more new blood that doesn’t understand SGI’s niche, or new talent that can help the company grow into new markets?
One of the first moves when a company comes out of Chapter 11 restructuring, or acquires new investors on the board, is a shuffle of senior positions while the new board members flex their muscle. It would be easy to say that this is why Kathy is leaving, but she’s had a pretty tumultuous ride during tough times at Silicon Graphics, so I can’t blame her at all for wanting some time off.