Sun names new board members

Sun Microsystems has named two new board members: former Securities and Exchange Commission Chief Accountant Lynn Turner and Sun's former chief financial officer, Mike Lehman, the server seller said Monday.

"These two additions will add significant financial and reporting expertise to a strong and operationally experienced board," Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy said in a statement.

Turner, 50, will also be a member of the audit committee of Sun's board. Turner's arrival fulfills the guidelines of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Sun said. The act requires that companies have five financial experts on their boards, including two certified public accountants.

Turner served as the SEC's chief accountant from July 1998 to August 2001, Sun said, and now is a professor of accounting at Colorado State University's business school. Before joining the SEC, he worked at Symbios, a semiconductor and storage company, and was a partner at Coopers & Lybrand, now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Lehman, 53, retired July 1, replaced by Steve McGowan.

Under an employee contract disclosed Monday in a Sun regulatory filing, Lehman had been slated to become a part-time employee receiving half his preretirement salary beginning Tuesday, with official retirement to take place Sept. 30, 2003. However, under a revised agreement, Lehman instead was offered a $600,000 lump-sum payment.