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In his role as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Symantec, James Beer manages Symantec’s worldwide finance organization with responsibility for accounting, strategic planning and analysis, treasury, tax, investor relations, and audit. He also leads the corporate development, facilities, and operations teams.
Prior to joining Symantec, Beer was chief financial officer of AMR Corp. and American Airlines, responsible for financial planning and analysis, treasury, corporate development, accounting, tax, purchasing, and investor relations. He also managed American Beacon Advisors Inc., a subsidiary of AMR that manages more than $40 billion in assets.
In his 15 years at American, Beer held a variety of management positions in finance and operations, including leading the airline’s European and Asia Pacific businesses. He also led, on behalf of American, the creation of the oneworld alliance, as well as the majority of American’s other international alliance relationships. In addition, he was responsible for the negotiation of multi-billion dollar acquisition transactions and the associated financing. In his corporate development role, he was responsible for American’s investments in Orbitz and Worldspan. He also led the effort to evaluate options for enhancing shareholder value which culminated in the initial public offering and eventual spin-off of the Sabre Group.
Prior to joining AMR, Beer spent seven years as a management consultant at Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture, in Europe and the United States. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College, London University and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. | 