Akamai Promotes James Benson to EVP and CFO
Akamai Technologies, a cloud technology company, has promoted James Benson, senior vice president (SVP) of finance, to executive vice president (EVP) and chief financial officer (CFO), succeeding J Donald (JD) Sherman. Benson’s appointment is effective 1 March 2012 and he will be responsible for all of Akamai’s financial operations, including corporate accounting, external reporting, financial planning, treasury, tax and investor relations. In addition, he will oversee internal audit and real estate. Benson will report directly to Paul Sagan, Akamai’s president and chief executive officer (CEO).
With over 20 years of financial leadership experience in the information technology industry, Benson joined Akamai from Hewlett Packard (HP) in 2009, having served previously as vice president, finance/operations and CFO for HP’s Americas Technology Solutions Group, a US$14bn profit and loss (P&L) entity that encompassed HP’s server, storage, software and services divisions. Earlier, Benson held a series of executive positions in finance at HP, Compaq Computer and Digital Equipment.
Benson has an MBA from Clark University and a BS in Finance from Bentley College.
Sherman, who has been Akamai’s CFO since 2006, is leaving to become president and chief operating officer (COO) of HubSpot, a marketing software company.