First, I do not know Kevin Barnes, and do not infer that anything I say here is disparaging about him.
I think this appointment is very significant from an organization standpoint. CFO is arguably the #2 position in most companies below the CEO. KB never appeared to have that level of cache. Still his value remains apparent and his staying on, at least in an interim role, suggests things are in process that require his involvement for a smooth transition
Back to the CFO -- this guy has the experience and the ability to go toe to toe with SV and say "You can't do this, but you can do this instead" and SV is likely to defer. That includes many things that we have seen gone awry in communications, specifically those of a financial nature. The CFO handles the institutional relationships and large shareholders (note to Mazan, probably worth getting him to know about you and your holdings), and will be very attuned to market reactions to future meetings, announcements etc. Expect shareholder information and future financial events to be handled in a much less ham handed fashion.
Again that is not a diss to KB, I just believe SV to be highly autocratic and where he may have instructed KB to do things a certain way, he will be more likely to see the CFO as a peer than as his accountant based on his extensive financial experience.
