SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM), a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet solutions and a leading provider of handheld solutions, today announced three new leaders reporting to Todd Bradley, Palm executive vice president and chief operating officer of Palm's Solutions Group.

They are as follows:

-- Kevin Hell, Palm vice president and senior vice president of product management, Solutions Group. Prior to joining Palm, Hell managed the emerging products business at Gateway, Inc. and led Gateway's entry into the Internet appliance, PDA and networked music player markets as vice president of Gateway's Connected Home;

-- Angel Mendez, Palm vice president and senior vice president of global supply-chain operations, Solutions Group. Most recently, he was vice president for global supply-chain management at Gateway; and

-- Ken Wirt, Palm vice president and senior vice president of marketing, Solutions Group. He has been consulting with Palm for several months and was the founder and chief executive officer of Riffage.com, a venture capital-funded music media company backed by Mayfield Fund, Bertelsmann and AOL.

"This team is world-class, proven and focused on executing Palm's strategy for consumer, enterprise and education markets," said Bradley, who joined Palm June 1 following a position as executive vice president of global operations at Gateway. "We're going to build on Palm's many strengths and worldwide leadership position in ways that delight customers and build shareholder value."

The New Team Members

Hell, 37, also headed corporate strategy for Gateway and helped define its "beyond-the-box" strategy. He developed an innovative thin-server/ASP (Application Service Provider) approach for small-medium business markets and defined growth plans for markets in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Before joining Gateway, Hell worked for seven years as a management consultant for Boston Consulting Group, where he focused on high-tech and entertainment clients. He was elected general partner and vice president. Prior, he designed communication satellites for Hughes Aircraft Company.

Hell holds an MBA from The Wharton School (Philadelphia), and a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

Mendez, 40, comes to Palm with a 20-year track record in developing and implementing comprehensive strategies to improve supply-chain performance. He has held supply-chain leadership roles at Citigroup, Allied Signal, Martin Marietta and GE Aerospace, and has extensive international experience in Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia.

At Gateway, Mendez drove programs to improve the management of more than $7.5 billion in direct and indirect company spending. He also developed and launched a new global sourcing approach to lower production costs, embed new product features and improve time to market, ultimately identifying more than $400 million in sourcing savings realizable in 2001.

Mendez holds an MBA from Rollins College (Winter Park, Fla.) and a bachelor's degree from Lafayette College (Easton, Pa.) in electrical engineering.

Wirt, 49, and the management team he recruited built Riffage into a popular music site on the Internet, with 1 million unique visitors per month, signing major sponsors including Sony, Sega, Lipton's and Telocity.

Before founding his own company, Wirt was vice president of corporate marketing for Diamond Multimedia Systems, a leading PC peripherals company, where he managed all worldwide marketing functions, tech support, customer service and Internet marketing. Wirt also led the introduction of the Rio portable MP3 player, which established the MP3 market and maintains a leading share today after the entry of Sony, Compaq, Philips, Samsung and Intel, among others.

Previously, Wirt headed marketing for Apple Computer's PIE (personal interactive electronics) division, overseeing all Newton marketing programs. Wirt also has held key marketing roles at NEC Technologies, Cognitive Systems and Atari. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan.

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet solutions and a leading provider of handheld computers, according to IDC (December 2000). Based on the Palm OS(R) platform, Palm's handheld solutions allow people to carry and access their most critical information wherever they go. Palm(TM) handhelds address the needs of individuals, enterprises and educational institutions through thousands of application solutions.

The Palm OS platform is also the foundation for products from Palm's licensees and strategic partners, such as Franklin Covey, HandEra (formerly TRG), Handspring, IBM, Kyocera, Sony, and Symbol Technologies. Platform licensees also include Acer, Garmin, Nokia and Samsung. The Palm Economy is a growing global community of industry-leading licensees, world-class OEM customers, and more than 160,000 innovative developers and solution providers that have registered to develop solutions based on the Palm OS platform. Palm went public on March 2, 2000. Its stock is traded on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol PALM. More information is available at www.palm.com.

SOURCE Palm, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.palm.com
CONTACT: Marlene Somsak of Palm, Inc., +1-408-878-2592, or marlene.somsak@corp.palm.com