Palm President Heads For Net Start-Up

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July 01, 1999 (12:00 AM EDT)

By Jennifer Hagendorf Follett ,

Palm Computing is now in new hands.

3Com late Wednesday said Robin Abrams, president of Palm Computing, resigned her post. Alan Kessler, senior vice president of 3Com's Global Customer Service organization, will succeed her, effective immediately.

Kessler is a 13-year veteran of Santa Clara, Calif.-based 3Com.

Abrams has accepted a CEO position at a pre-IPO start-up, said Gerry Purdy, president and CEO of Mobile Insights, in Mountain View, Calif. Though Abrams did not yet identify the new company, she did say it is not a handheld PC vendor, said Purdy.

"She was concerned that people might think she bailed on Palm, but it's not a rejection of Palm. I think she did it for personal reasons, for herself, her career, and her family," said Purdy.

By joining the new company, Abrams could potentially make more money without the stress of being in the spotlight, said Purdy.

"Palm is one of the highest-visibility things in U.S. technology these days. Everyone is wondering if they're going to get trampled by Microsoft in the [handheld PC space]," said Purdy.

Abrams took the Palm Computing helm in February. Prior to that, she served as president and CEO of VeriFone, a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard, in Palo Alto, Calif.