In an executive coup, Adobe Systems has lured Sun Microsystems’ software
head John Loiacono to run its creative software portfolio, which includes
Photoshop and Flash.
Loiacono will become senior vice president of Creative Solutions, leading
the graphics software power’s design, Web, imaging, video and audio
business.
This includes brands such as Adobe Creative Suite, Macromedia Studio, Adobe
InDesign, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Flash
Professional and Macromedia Dreamweaver.
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John Loiacono Source: Sun |
A 20-year Sun veteran, Loiacono most recently served as executive vice
president of software, propelling the company’s Solaris operating system,
Java Enterprise System suites, Java developer tools and Star Office.
A Sun spokesperson said Loiacono’s last day will be March 24.
Sun has begun a search of internal and external candidates to replace
Loiacono. Sun President and COO Jonathan Schwartz will assume Loiacono’s
responsibilities until a replacement is found.
“We thank John for his many contributions to Sun and wish him well in his
new endeavor,” the Sun spokesperson said in an e-mail.
For Adobe, the move is another sign the company is looking to expand its
Adobe Engagement Platform, which blends Adobe PDF files and the Flash
multimedia software Adobe acquired when it purchased Macromedia last year.
Adobe aims to use the mix of digital document software and digital media to
deliver eye-catching documents to users through desktops, laptops and mobile
devices.
Loiacono will help steer the company on this path.
“With John’s leadership we will continue to innovate across the creative
markets to deliver integrated suites that simplify workflows, while at the
same time delighting our customers with cutting-edge new product features
that keep our software ahead of the competition,” said Adobe President and
COO Shantanu Narayen in a statement.
Loiacono will report to Narayen at Adobe’s headquarters in San Jose, Calif.
The executive is the latest to depart from Sun, which has had a revolving
door of high-ranking officials come and go.
Execs seem to return to the Sun fold almost as much as they leave.
On Monday, Peder Ulander, once the top marketing executive for Sun’s desktop
solutions group, will rejoin Sun after a stint at MontaVista Software.
Last month, Michael Lehman rejoined Sun as CFO, replacing Steve McGowan, who
retired. Lehman had been CFO at Sun from 1998 to 2002.
Two years ago, Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsteim rejoined
Sun when the company acquired his startup, Kealia. The engineer went on to
develop the company’s Opteron-based Galaxy servers.
