Former Apple exec joins Elevation Partners

Former Apple executive Avie Tevanian is joining Elevation Partners, the firm heavily invested in Palm, as a Managing Director, the firm said today. In his role, he'll help evaluate potential investments and work with those companies to help drive their strategies.

Tevanian, who was Apple's Chief Software Technology Office, helped develop the Mac OS X operating system and led the company's software strategy and development.

It's kind of funny how a former Apple exec would join a firm so closely tied to Palm, given the recent revelations at CES last week that Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein supposedly has never used an iPhone and that folks at Palm don't "pay too much attention" to Apple.

In a statement released today, Elevation co-founder Fred Anderson, also an Apple alum, said:

Avie and I worked closely together at Apple for many years and I have always admired his engineering talent and leadership, his strategic vision for how software can transform businesses and his ability to execute on that vision. We are proud that he has decided to join Elevation and believe he will be a huge asset as we explore new investment opportunities.