Sun Microsystems Australia and New Zealand managing director Jim Hassell has resigned.
Hassell will leave the company at the end of December and Sun ANZ sales director Duncan Bennett will take over as acting managing director from January.
Hassell cited personal reasons for his departure, saying he would take the summer holidays to consider his future and to spend time with his nine-year-old son.
He said that progressing his career with Sun would have required a move overseas, something he wasn’t willing to contemplate now that his family had settled in Australia.
(Hassell is originally from Britain).
His departure came “at a good time for me and for the company”, he said, noting the local operation had shown three years of growth.
This year proved to be a strong one for Sun in Australia, with the company signing a huge server order with Telstra and turning around from a $A3.6 million (NZ$4.1 million) loss in the 2006 financial year to a $A1.6 million profit in 2007, accompanied by a $176 million, or 45%, growth in revenue.
- Australian Financial Review