- Managers at Tibco Software Inc. promoted Christopher O’Meara to the CFO post. O’Meara was appointed acting CFO of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based software maker in April. Before joining Tibco in 1997 as vice president of finance, O’Meara spent ten years at Adaptec, where he served as the company’s vice president of finance, as well as treasurer.
O’Meara may have his work cut out for him in trying to get the company’s share price up, though getting it anywhere near its 52-week high of $111.38 is unlikely. Right now, shares of Tibco are trading around $8.35 — a lot closer to its 52-week low of $6.44.
Things are not completely rotten for Tibco right now, however. The company has an impressive roster of big-name clients such as Cisco Systems Inc., Nasdaq, and Nokia. And according to a recent BusinessWeek Online article, Tibco’s product, systems- integration software, may be just the thing for companies which are unwilling to spend any more money on flashy technology that yields underwhelming results. Instead, says Businessweek.com, a more cost- effective option is a product that makes a company’s existing technology work more smoothly. Italian tire company Pirellli is one such company; it chose Tibco’s software over a new CRM program, and according to the article, Pirelli officials estimate it cost half as much as the CRM package.
- Lars Carlson has hit the Swede spot as the new finance chief for Stockholm-based Optillion.
Startup Optillion, which makes transceivers that increase the capacity of fiber-optic networks, is in the midst of building its own manufacturing plant. The company’s major backers are Crescendo Ventures, Cisco Systems Inc., and INvestor Growth Capital.
Carlson joins Optillion from XponCardGroup, where he was CFO. He has also held the CFO position at Nyman & Schultz Shipping, Gunnebo, and Moore Pargon. He replaces Royne Markhester, who will become head of chip production.
- Officials at Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc. announced that CFO John Harland is resigning to pursue other interests. Harland was part of the management team that took the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company public last year. Controller Anita Ho will take over as interim CFO while the company searches for Harland’s replacement.