Tim Leyden and Mike Cordano Presidents of WD and HGST Subsidiaries, Respectively

Western Digital Corp. announced the appointments of Tim Leyden and Mike Cordano as presidents of the company’s WD and HGST subsidiaries, respectively, reporting to Steve Milligan, president of Western Digital Corporation.

Milligan reports to John Coyne, who continues in his role as chief executive officer of Western Digital Corporation.

Before the acquisition of HGST by Western Digital in March 2012, Leyden served as COO of Western Digital and Cordano served as EVP, sales and marketing and president, branded business division of HGST.

"Along with Steve Milligan, I am excited to have such a strong and accomplished leadership team focused on the strategic development of our business to extend our long-term performance into the years ahead," said Coyne. "The appointments of Tim and Mike help ensure continuity of leadership of our subsidiaries by two capable and accomplished executives with a wealth of broad-based experience in the industry."

  Timothy M. Leyden rejoined WD in 2007 as EVP, finance, and later that year became CFO, reporting to John Coyne, president and CEO. He previously served WD from 1983 through 2000. Prior to his return to WD, Leyden was SVP and CFO of Sage Software Inc., a subsidiary of Sage Group PLC, a U.K. public company. Before that, he had worked as a management consultant to technology based companies during 2001 with Pittiglio, Rabin, Todd & McGrath. In his earlier career at WD, Leyden served in various worldwide finance, manufacturing, and information technology capacities in the company’s storage controller, semiconductor and hard drive businesses, both in his native Ireland and in the U.S. During that time, he worked closely with John Coyne, who became CEO of WD in January 2007. They worked together on the acquisition and integration teams when WD entered the hard drive business in 1988.

Leyden received his ACMA (Associate Chartered Management Accountant) certification from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Portland Place, London. He earned a master’s degree of business administration from University of California, Irvine.

 As SVP of Sales and Marketing and president of Branded Business for HGST, a Western Digital company, Mike Cordano leads the HGST external storage business as well as the company’s worldwide sales and marketing organizations. He previously was CEO and co-founder of Fabrik, Inc., the supplier of SimpleTech and G-Technology portable and external storage solutions. HGST acquired Fabrik in April 2009. A 20-year veteran of the storage industry, Mike previously was EVP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Maxtor. There he formed and managed the Branded Products Business Unit, creating strong product categories such as the Maxtor OneTouch external storage and backup solution, which ultimately defined the category and broke the technology barrier for mass consumer adoption.

His background also includes several regional and international management assignments. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado