Being benched isn't so bad, especially when you're riding the pine on an all-expenses paid private plane.

Just ask Greg Reyes the former CEO of Brocade. He'll receive $910,000 per year over the next two years, working as Brocade's consultant. In this role, Reyes will help out with Brocade's "strategy and vision [and] customer-related activities."

And he'll be doing all this in style. "The Company will reimburse the Consultant for the expense incurred by the Consultant in the operation of his private plane, when used for Company business, up to the first class ticket market rate charged by commercial airlines," Brocade said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

That's a class package if you consider that Reyes was bluntly evicted from his posts as CEO and Chairman of Brocade back in January. Reyes was replaced as Brocade tried to deal with accounting irregularities uncovered during an internal audit. After it announced new financial results for 2002, 2003 and 2004, Brocade tapped onetime VP Michael Klayko as its new CEO, and gave Dave House the chairman role.

Brocade recovered from this embarrassing episode to post solid first quarter financial results last week. It reported an 11 per cent rise in revenue to $162m. ®

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