Salesforce Taps Former Autodesk Exec as Next CFO

Salesforce.com (CRM) will have someone new leading its finance organization in about a month, replacing the company’s current CFO, Graham Smith.

The San Francisco-based customer relationship management company announced this week that Mark Hawkins — former CFO of Autodesk, a software design and service company based out of San Rafael, California — will join the company as CFO, effective August 1, 2014.

In his new role, Hawkins will be in charge of overseeing the company’s finance team. He will report directly to Salesforce chairman and CEO Marc Benioff.

Before joining the Salesforce team, Hawkins served as Autodesk’s CFO and executive vice president, where he led the finance function of the organization, heading up tasks including corporate financial planning and analysis, and procurement and internal audit.

He also worked with other software and technology companies including Logitech, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) over the course of 30 years.

Current Salesforce CFO Graham Smith will remain employed as an advisor until March 31, 2015 to “ensure a seamless transition,” the company said. His planned retirement was announced earlier in the year.

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