Adavanced Micro Devices Inc has promoted Bob Rivet, former executive VP and CFO, to chief operations and administrative officer in a move that could allow CEO Dirk Meyer to focus more on technology design at the MPU maker.

Emilio Ghilardi, senior VP and general manager of sales for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), will assume the role of chief sales officer at the beginning of 2009. AMD said Ghilardi's move is part of a planned executive transition that will see its current senior VP and chief sales officer, Gustavo Arenas, shift into a role targeted on strengthening AMD’s global customer and strategic relationships.

Both Rivet and Ghilardi will continue in their current roles until replacements are named.

The promotions follow on major changes at AMD in recent weeks, ones that saw the company spin out its manufacturing operations into a new company. That move is expected to allow AMD to focus its resources more on technology, as well as help the company move back to quarterly profits.

“With our recently announced asset-smart strategy, AMD is accelerating our transformation to capitalize on our proven expertise in both microprocessor and leading-edge graphics to deliver the innovations that matter most to our customers,” Meyer said in a statement Thursday.

The promotions also follow the July appointment of Meyer as CEO. Meyer replaced Hector Ruiz after the company recorded a $1.2 billion charge for its June quarter. Meyer came to AMD with extensive design-side experience and from 2001 to 2006 led the company’s microprocessor business.

"In the new role as chief operations and administrative officer, which combines the offices of COO and CAO, Mr Rivet will effectively becomes the second in command at AMD design after CEO Dirk Meyer," Tim Luke, a semiconductor market analyst at Barclays Capital, explained in a research note this morning. "The role allows more opportunities for Mr Meyer to focus on engineering, technology, and sales, while Mr Rivet focuses on all internal AMD details."

 In his expanded role Rivet will take on responsibilities for more of AMD’s key centralized functions, including the company’s supply chain, human resources, and information technology organizations. Prior to AMD, Rivet served as senior VP and director of finance of Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, now Freescale Semiconductor. He has been AMD's CFO since he joined the company in 2000.

Ghilardi joined AMD earlier this year from HP, where he most recently served as the VP and general manager of HP’s EMEA consumer business unit. Previously, Ghilardi was the EMEA VP and general manager of commercial hardware within the imaging and printing group. Ghilardi also served as the VP of consumer PC clients in EMEA.

By: DocMemory
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