OREANDA-NEWS. October 10, 2013. McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK)announced that James A. Beer will join the company as executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Beer will be responsible for overseeing all financial functions for McKesson and replaces Jeff C. Campbell, who left the company in June 2013 to become chief financial officer of American Express Company. Beer will also join McKesson's executive committee.

"James Beer is exceptionally qualified to lead our finance organization as chief financial officer," said John Hammergren, chairman and chief executive officer, McKesson Corporation. "His extensive experience as the CFO for leading, publicly traded companies across several industries provides him with the ideal background and perspective to help guide McKesson's continued success."

Beer comes to McKesson from Symantec Corporation where he served as executive vice president and chief financial officer managing the worldwide finance organization with responsibility for accounting, financial planning and analysis, treasury, tax, investor relations, corporate development, purchasing, and audit. Prior to Symantec, Beer was chief financial officer of AMR Corporation and American Airlines, AMR's principal subsidiary, responsible for financial planning and analysis, treasury, corporate development, accounting, tax, purchasing, and investor relations. In his 15 years at American Airlines, Beer held a variety of management positions in finance and operations, including leading the airline's European and Asia Pacific businesses.

"McKesson is strongly positioned to take advantage of tremendous growth opportunities in healthcare as the industry transforms through health reform," said Beer. "I look forward to working with the company's experienced leadership team to deliver on that potential and build upon the exceptional performance of the past decade."

Beer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College, London University and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.