Sun Loses Another Top Exec

Sun Microsystems

Sun said Thursday that Masood Jabbar, executive vice president of global sales operations, has retired from the company. His successor is Robert Youngjohns, most recently Sun's president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, company officials said.

Jabbar will stay on to help Youngjohns through a transition period, according to Sun.

On the Sun earnings call Thursday, Jabbar thanked Sun Chairman, President and CEO Scott McNealy for making him "feel like I've been on a mission" every day of his 16 years at Sun.

Jabbar also lauded his sales team. "I say this group is pound for pound the best team in our industry," Jabbar said. "The greatest honor of my career has been to serve at the helm of the best sales organization in the world."

Jabbar said that the goals he has achieved in the past two years as executive vice president of global sales operations, among them aligning the sales teams into one focused unit and implementing a customer engagement model for Sun's sales strategy, will continue to evolve.

"With Robert succeeding me today this structure will remain intact," Jabbar said.

Jabbar's departure comes on the heels of several significant executive departures from Sun. In July, Sun President and COO Ed Zander resigned, following the April resignations of CFO Michael Lehman and John Shoemaker, head of computer services.

Grady Crunk, executive vice president for Titusville, Fla.-based solution provider and Sun partner Central Data, said Jabbar's departure is more bad news for customers and partners already uncertain about Sun's future and its commitment to solution providers.

"Sun's shaking things up so much I don't know how many more hits they can take," Crunk said. He said his local Sun channel sales rep recently told him he no longer was assigned to the Central Data account, but even the rep did not know who would be replacing him.

Crunk said he has customers that a month ago were willing to stick by Sun through the company's recent executive departures and financial troubles. Now, he said, "their whole attitude has changed."