Polycom hires Eric Brown as chief operating officer to increase efficiency and scale

By Telecom Lead Team: Video
communications major Polycom has hired Eric Brown as chief financial officer,
chief operating officer, and executive vice president.


Brown will manage financial,
operational, and IT functions at Polycom for greater efficiency and scale as
the company looks to grow faster than the overall UC market.


Mike Kourey will retire from his
position as EVP & CFO of Polycom to pursue new opportunities.


Brown comes to Polycom from
Electronic Arts, a publisher of video game software, where as chief financial
officer and executive vice president, he led the company through rapid change.


Brown was instrumental in leveraging
advances in wireless and mobile technologies, shifting EA to online
distribution of products and services, and streamlining EA’s portfolio to drive
profitability.


He also served as key architect of a
recent strategic acquisition designed to drive expansion and growth of digital
offerings and make EA products available through mobile, social and cloud-based
delivery.


Prior to Electronic Arts, Brown was
COO and CFO at McAfee. Before that, Brown was president and CFO of
MicroStrategy, and also co-founded DataSage.


“As Polycom drives toward our
vision to make video collaboration ubiquitous, I am very pleased to welcome a
leader of Eric’s caliber and proven operational excellence to our executive
team,” said Miller.


Eric brings deep knowledge of
enterprise software and delivering software through mobile, social, and
cloud-based models, all of which are integral to Polycom’s software strategy.


“The growth trends in mobility,
cloud-delivered services, and business social networking are the driving forces
behind a whole new paradigm for communication that is centered on the power of
video collaboration. With Polycom’s software strategy, open platform approach,
broad ecosystem of partners, and strong brand loyalty among its huge installed
base, I believe the company is ideally poised to capitalize on this new
model,” Eric said.


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