A screenshot of Akamai's website
Content delivery network operator Akamai Technologies announced on Wednesday it has named James Benson its executive vice president and chief financial officer, succeeding J. Donald Sherman, starting March 1.
The news follows the recent completion of Akamai’s acquisition of web performance optimization technology provider Blaze Software.
Content delivery networks are beneficial to hosting companies in that they provide added value to their customers, which translates to growth of business and increase in revenue.
Sherman, who has been Akamai’s CFO since 2006, is leaving to become president and chief operating officer of marketing software firm HubSpot.
With over 20 years of financial leadership experience in the information technology industry, Benson joined Akamai from Hewlett Packard in 2009.
He served previously as vice president, finance/operations and CFO for HP’s Americas Technology Solutions Group. Benson has also held a series of executive positions in finance at HP, Compaq Computer and Digital Equipment.
“I am delighted to announce Jim’s promotion to CFO at Akamai,” said Paul Sagan, Akamai’s president and CEO. “Jim is an accomplished finance executive with broad knowledge of the IT industry. Having already worked closely with Jim for the past two years, I look forward to benefitting from his experience and insights into the future of Internet-based enterprise computing and the direction of the cloud computing marketplace in general.”
Reporting directly to Paul Sagan, Benson will be responsible for all of Akamai’s financial operations, including corporate accounting, external reporting, financial planning, treasury, tax and investor relations, as well as oversee internal audit and real estate.
About Justin Lee
Justin Lee has been a staff analyst with theWHIR since 2004. He writes about a range of web hosting and IT-related issues facing the industry on the WHIR website, as well the print version of the WHIR magazine. Follow him on Twitter @Justin_theWHIR.
