SANTA CLARA, CA -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), announced today that Robert Youngjohns, 50, vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, succeeds Masood Jabbar, 52, executive vice president, global sales operations, effective immediately. Jabbar will work closely with Youngjohns through a transition that is designed to ensure continuity and stability for Sun and its customers. "I want to personally thank Masood for delivering under incredibly tough economic conditions," said Scott McNealy, chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Sun Microsystems, Inc. "He and his team have delivered a fantastic quarter while transitioning to a new sales model and facing significant macroeconomic volatility. He showed he can gain share in great and not-so-great market conditions. I am extremely proud of his accomplishments, not just this year, but over the past 16. The mark of a great leader is departing with a stronger team in place and that is what Masood is doing today." "I've enjoyed every minute of my career at Sun," said Jabbar. "Sun has afforded me a tremendous breadth of responsibility, spanning finance, general management, international assignments and global sales. I am proud of what my team has accomplished." "Working under Masood's leadership, Robert has played an instrumental role building and leading Sun's world-class sales and customer-facing functions," added McNealy. "Many of our major customers already know Robert. I am very confident that our sales force remains in good hands." Youngjohns will report to McNealy. The company will name a successor to Youngjohns in the immediate future. During his six-year career at Sun, Youngjohns has successfully grown Sun's presence in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Sun, Youngjohns spent 15 years at IBM in a variety of roles ranging from systems engineering to general management. He has extensive experience of international sales, marketing and business management in the Americas, Asia and Europe. A 20-year-old company, Sun anticipates the retirement of executives and has a comprehensive leadership, development and succession planning program. As demonstrated today, and in other recent announcements, these programs incorporate managed transition periods which are designed to ensure business continuance and stability.