You may not have heard of Avadis “Avie” Tevanian, but if you’re reading this website, odds are that you’re very familiar with his work. Tevanian originally came over to Apple from NeXT when Apple purchased the company back in 2007. During his time at Apple, Tevanian served as the Senior Vice President of Software Engineering (from ’97 to ’03) and later as Apple’s Chief Software Technology Officer until he left Apple in 2006. Tevanian was instrumental in developing the Mach kernal and was naturally instrumental in the development of OS X. Before that, he was the VP of Software Engineering at NeXT Computer where he worked closely with Steve Jobs.
And now comes word that Tevanian will be joining the investment firm Elevation Partners as a managing director, a name which might sound oddly familiar as it happens to be the same investment firm run by former Apple CFO Fred Anderson, and the same private equity firm who invested a truckload of money into Palm (they own a 25% stake) after former Apple executive Jon Rubenstein agreed to hop on board and lead development on what would eventually become the Palm Pre.
Former Apple CFO Fred Anderson had this to say of their latest hire:
Avie and I worked closely together at Apple for many years and I have always admired his engineering talent and leadership, his strategic vision for how software can transform businesses and his ability to execute on that vision. We are proud that he has decided to join Elevation and believe he will be a huge asset as we explore new investment opportunities.
CNET has a solid interview with Tevanian over here.
January 16th, 2010 at 1:55 am
“Tevanian originally came over to Apple from NeXT when Apple purchased the company back in 2007.”
You meant to say 1997, didn’t you”