Ex-Sun Exec Surfaces At Penguin ComputingEx-Sun Exec Surfaces At Penguin Computing

Sun Microsystems' former head of U.S. sales, Bill Cook, resurfaced Wednesday at a Linux systems vendor, just as his former boss, Robert YoungJohns, is preparing to depart the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

Cook, former senior vice president of U.S. sales at Sun, joined Penguin Computing as senior vice president of sales and services. Sun confirmed to CRN Wednesday that YoungJohns will leave at the end of May to join Callidus Software as president and CEO. San Jose, Calif.-based Callidus provides enterprise incentive management solutions.

In January, Sun eliminated Cook's position and replaced it with a new president of the U.S. geographically established market (GEM), Rich Napolitano. At the time, Cook, who spent 19 years at Sun, was said to be exploring other options within the company; he departed the systems vendor last Friday, a move that surprised few.

"I was not sure what he was going to do when Rich Napolitano took over," said one Sun VAR, who asked not to be named.

Before his most recent position as executive vice president of strategic development and Sun financing, YoungJohns was executive vice president of global sales at the company, overseeing the entire Sun sales team, including Cook.

Stuart Wells will assume the role YoungJohns vacates at Sun. Wells, who is currently Sun's senior vice president of financial services, will focus on developing business opportunities related to the delivery of computing utilities through the Sun Grid and the Sun Microsystems Financial Services team, according to a Sun spokeswoman. He also will help drive Sun's Web business.