SAN FRANCISCO—Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) said Monday (Sept. 17) that its chief financial officer, Thomas Seifert announced his resignation after three years with the chip maker. Seifert's resignation will be effective Sept. 28.
AMD (Sunnyvale, Calif.) said Seifert is resigning to pursue other opportunities. He is staying on until Sept. 28 to assist with the transition, AMD said. Since Seifert is resigning, he will not receive a departure package, the company said.
[ARM TechCon 2012, the largest ARM design ecosystem under one roof, is Oct. 30 - Nov. 1 in Santa Clara. Click here to check out agenda.]Devinder Kumar, senior vice president and corporate controller at AMD, will serve as interim CFO while the company searches for Seifert's replacement, AMD said. Kumar has been the company’s corporate controller since 2001.
He served as AMD’s assistant treasurer and treasurer between 2007 and 2010.
AMD said Seifert's departure is not based on any disagreement over the company’s accounting principles or practices, or its financial statement disclosures.
Seifert joined AMD as CFO in October 2009 after a stint as chief operating officer at now defunct memory chip vendor Qimonda AG. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president and general manager of the Wireline Business Group at Infineon AG.
Seifert served as interim CEO of AMD for seven months last year after
former CEO Dirk Meyer resigned in January 2011 under pressure from the company's board of directors. Seifert said he did not want the AMD CEO job on a permanent basis and was never considered a candidate for the position. AMD
eventually appointed former Lenovo Group Ltd. president and chief operating officer Rory Read to the position.
Seifert's resignation continues a trend of upheaval at AMD that began prior to Read's appointment. High-profile departure's from the company in the past 18 months have included
Rick Bergman, formerly general manager of the company's products group, Emilio Ghilardi, formerly chief sales officer and Nigel Dessau, formerly chief marketing officer. Over the same period, AMD has also enhanced its management and design teams with new high-profile recruits, including former Freescale Semiconductor executive Lisa Su and Mark Papermaster, formerly a designer and executive at Cisco and Apple.
Kumar joined AMD in 1984 as a financial analyst. He spent 10 years in Asia as a financial controller for AMD Penang and group finance director for AMD’s Manufacturing Services Group across Singapore, Thailand, China and Malaysia, the company said. Starting in 1998, Kumar assumed several corporate roles including leadership positions in corporate accounting and corporate finance, culminating with his appointment as controller last year, the firm said.
In a statement, Read said Seifert's personal commitment to the highest standards of accountability and financial integrity helped define how AMD does business today. “We thank Thomas for his many contributions to AMD and for serving as interim CEO in 2011, Read said.
Read described Kumar as experienced financial executive with broad financial expertise and semiconductor experience.
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