Handspring announced on Tuesday the appointment of William Slakey as its chief financial officer. Slakey will take over for Bernard Whitney, who left the Mountain View, Calif.-based device maker in July to spend more time with his family. Slakey's post as vice president and CFO becomes effective Sept. 30. The executive joins Handspring from WJ Communications, a maker of RF semiconductors, where he was also CFO. Slakey has held financial roles at Palm--when it was a division of 3Com--and Apple Computer.