SiliconBeat

Michael Shannahan, who joined Kana Software less than 14 months ago, retired from the Menlo Park developer of customer communication software Monday in order to “pursue other interests,” the company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday.

It would be the end of Shannahan’s sixth CFO gig in 10 years, having also served in that capacity at Medsphere Systems, a software company in the healthcare industry from February 2005 until joining Kana; at Chordiant Software, a management software company from October 2003 to September 2004; at Sanctum, a Web applications security company from October 2001 to November 2002; at Broadband Office, a communication services company, from January 2001 to September 2001; and at mySimon, an e-commerce company from August 1999 to January 2001. Before that Shannahan spent 18 years at the accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick.

Shannahan, who had served as a director on Kana’s board since 2005, was given a $275,000 annual salary along with a signing bonus of $11,458 when he joined the company in March 2008. No mention of severance payments was made in the departure announcement.

He was replaced on an interim basis by the company’s chief administrative officer, Jay Jones, who joined Kana in September 2006 after working at Veritas Software since 1999.