Poly

 

PLEASANTON, Calif. - Feb 08, 2012 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC), today announced that Eric Brown will join the company as chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and executive vice president, starting Feb. 21, 2012. In his dual roles as CFO and COO, reporting to Polycom President and CEO Andy Miller, Brown, 46, will manage all financial, operational, and IT functions at Polycom, which are being consolidated under one leader for greater efficiency and scale as the company looks to accelerate its momentum and grow faster than the overall UC market. Polycom today also announced that Mike Kourey will retire from his position as EVP & CFO of Polycom in order to pursue other opportunities, including spending more time on corporate boards and on various charitable activities (see related release here).

 

Brown comes to Polycom from Electronic Arts, the world's leading publisher of video game software, where as chief financial officer and executive vice president, he led the company successfully through rapid change. Brown was instrumental in leveraging advances in wireless and mobile technologies, shifting EA to online distribution of products and services, and streamlining EA's portfolio to drive profitability. He also served as key architect of a recent strategic acquisition designed to drive expansion and growth of digital offerings and make EA products available through mobile, social and cloud-based delivery. Prior to Electronic Arts, Brown was COO and CFO at McAfee, Inc. Before that, Brown was President and CFO of MicroStrategy, Inc, and also co-founded DataSage, Inc., where he also served as CFO. Brown earned his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

 

"As Polycom drives toward our vision to make video collaboration ubiquitous, I am very pleased to welcome a leader of Eric's caliber and proven operational excellence to our executive team," said Miller. "Eric's strengths and track record in finance, operations, and IT are exactly what Polycom needs at this time of unprecedented growth at the company. With Eric on board, we can put even more focus on innovation, and I look forward to spending additional time with customers and focusing on our long-term strategy. Eric brings deep knowledge of enterprise software and delivering software through mobile, social, and cloud-based models, all of which are integral to Polycom's software strategy. Eric will be an asset to our team and will play a leading role in the next era of growth at Polycom."

 

"I am delighted to join Polycom at such an exciting time," said Brown. "Polycom® RealPresence™ video collaboration is truly transformative technology, increasing business productivity, ensuring business continuity, and speeding time to market by eliminating the barriers of distance and time, and bringing people together virtually face-to-face. The growth trends in mobility, cloud-delivered services, and business social networking are the driving forces behind a whole new paradigm for communication that is centered on the power of video collaboration. With Polycom's software strategy, open platform approach, broad ecosystem of partners, and strong brand loyalty among its huge installed base, I believe the company is ideally poised to capitalize on this new model."

 

Polycom announced fourth-quarter and full-year 2011 financial results on Jan. 23, 2012. The company confirms its financial results, first-quarter 2012 financial guidance and the long-term operating model given at that time.