Apple CFO Fred Anderson Retiring -- Apple announced last week that the company's well-respected chief financial officer Fred Anderson will retire 01-Jun-04; he will be replaced by current comptroller and finance VP Peter Oppenheimer, who has been leading many of Apple's financial departments for some time. Apple plans to appoint Anderson to its Board of Directors once he retires; Anderson also serves on the boards of eBay and E.piphany. Anderson came to Apple from ADP in 1996 (bringing Oppenheimer along with him in 1997) and quickly found himself playing a key role in leading Apple's day-to-day operations following the resignation of Apple CEO Gil Amelio in 1997. At that time, current CEO Steve Jobs was merely a "key advisor" who would be helping out with the so-called CEO search committee; he wouldn't be formally crowned CEO until early 2000. Although Steve Jobs' near-legendary vision and re-invention of the Macintosh and Apple's product line has been central to Apple's recovery, Anderson also played a key role in shepherding the company through some of its darkest hours, in part by keeping the company out of significant debt and preventing it from becoming a takeover target. [GD]

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