Eric Benhamou plans to
resign as chairman of the PalmSource board of directors in late October, but
will continue as chairman of PalmOne.
Benhamou has served on the boards
of both PalmSource and PalmOne since PalmSource spun-off from Palm in
October 2003, the same year the company acquired handheld rival
Handspring.
“PalmSource and PalmOne have firmly established themselves as separate,
publicly traded companies,” said Eric Benhamou. “Their relationship has now
fully transitioned to the scope and processes appropriate for two
independent companies. Their boards, too, must evolve toward greater
independence, consistent with prevailing governance practices.”
Under Benhamou, PalmSource, maker of an operating system for handheld
devices and smartphones, completed a stock offering that resulted in net
proceeds of $59 million, launched Palm OS Cobalt — the sixth generation Palm
OS — and signed four new carriers to the Palm mobile network.
“Eric Benhamou has been an integral part of PalmSource’s strategic
separation from Palm, Inc., and the restructuring of the handheld industry,”
said David Nagel, president and CEO of PalmSource. “[The company] is
shifting its focus to the broad wireless handheld market.”
PalmSource also announced Satjiv S. Chahil, the former chief marketing
officer for Palm, will not stand for re-election as a member of the
PalmSource board. According to PalmSource, Chahil has agreed to assist the
company in establishing an advisory board of industry experts and pioneers.