[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

Akamai Technologies has announced a planned transition in leadership within the Company’s finance organization.  James Benson, Akamai’s senior vice president of Finance will succeed J. Donald (JD) Sherman as executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective March 1st.

As CFO, Mr. Benson will be responsible for all of Akamai’s financial operations, including corporate accounting, external reporting, financial planning, treasury, tax and investor relations. In addition, he will oversee internal audit and real estate. He will report directly to Paul Sagan, Akamai’s President and CEO.

With over 20 years of financial leadership experience in the information technology industry, Mr. Benson joined Akamai from Hewlett Packard in 2009, having served previously as vice president, Finance/Operations and CFO for HP’s Americas Technology Solutions Group, a $14 billion P&L entity that encompassed HP’s server, storage, software and services divisions.  Earlier, Mr. Benson held a series of executive positions in finance at HP, Compaq Computer  and Digital Equipment.  Mr. Benson has an MBA from Clark University and a BS in Finance from Bentley College.

Mr. Sherman, who has been Akamai’s CFO since 2006, is leaving to become president and chief operating officer of HubSpot, a marketing software company.