Red Hat goes mainstream to cap new CFO

Open-source champion Red Hat has taken its new CFO from the traditional business world.

Charles Peters, who becomes executive vice president and CFO of the Linux-based firm, has a solid background as a qualified accountant with 20 years' experience in public companies, most recently as CFO of multinational Burlington Industries.

Red Hat has seen its shares slide since it announced in July that it would have to restate its profits for the past three years. This followed a rap on the knuckles from the US securities watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission.

Peters will replace Kevin Thompson, who abruptly announced his resignation in June. Thompson is also a qualified accountant who spent most of his career managing company financing and IPOs for two major accountancy firms.