Olivier Leonetti CFO, Western Digital

Western Digital Corp. announced that CFO Tim Leyden, 62, is retiring after 24 years of service at the company.

 He is being succeeded by Olivier Leonetti, 50, who has served as VP, finance at Amgen Inc. from 2011, after having previously spent 14 years in global finance leadership positions at Dell Inc. He will remain with the company through January 2015 in a transition role and advisory capacity to president and CEO Steve Milligan and to Leonetti for an interim period to ensure a smooth transition.

The changes are effective as of September 8, 2014.

“On behalf of the board of directors and all Western Digital employees, I express my deep gratitude to Tim Leyden for his more than two decades of dedicated service and leadership,” said Milligan. “Tim’s integrity, work ethic and sound judgment leave an indelible mark on our company. In all of his roles, he has helped make a great company even stronger and more broad-based. We wish him the very best in his retirement.“

“We are very fortunate to attract Olivier Leonetti as our new CFO at this exciting time in the evolution of our company,” said Milligan. “Olivier is a capable and well-rounded finance leader with broad global experience. He is a valuable addition to our executive team.“

Leyden first served Western Digital from 1983 to 2000, before rejoining the company in 2007 as EVP finance. He subsequently served as EVP and CFO and as COO of Western Digital Corp. and president of the company’s WD subsidiary, before reassuming the CFO role at Western Digital Corp. in November 2013. In his earlier career at Western Digital, he served in various capacities in the company’s storage controller, semiconductor and HDD businesses, both in his native Ireland and in the U.S.

At Amgen, Leonetti has managed the finance organization of the company’s global commercial organization, which posted revenues of $19 billion in 2013, and he played a leadership role in defining and implementing the product development and commercial strategies of the Amgen organization worldwide. At Dell, he was VP, finance of the worldwide consumer division and VP, finance of the worldwide Dell.com business.