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Meet Lenovo's new CEO

John G. Spooner CNET News.com

Published: 10 Dec 2004 18:25 GMT

Meet one of the faces of the new Lenovo.

Stephen Ward, general manager of IBM's Personal Systems Group, has been anointed the future CEO of Lenovo, which on Tuesday announced a plan to acquire Big Blue's PC business. The new role will admit Ward into a fairly elite club -- that of the PC industry CEO -- where he will join the likes of HP CEO Carly Fiorina and Dell chief Kevin Rollins.

But being a chief executive in the PC business isn't quite what it used to be. Growth rates are slower and competition is tougher in the industry-giant-dominated PC world of 2004. Thus Ward will ultimately take charge of steering the industry's newest giant through some rocky shoals.

At the outset, Ward will be faced with three major tasks. He'll have to keep quite a few people happy, including his work force, which is made up of just more than 19,000 people, and his numerous IBM customers. At the same time, he'll be working to knit together the new Lenovo's global operations in a way that lets the company leverage both the IBM name and the lesser-known Lenovo brands and designs, as well as their manufacturing, marketing and other functions.

The good news, Ward says, is that he'll have plenty of help. IBM has his back when it comes to sales and support. Meanwhile, Lenovo's focus on Asia means there's little overlap to sort out between Lenovo and IBM when it comes to products and personnel in the United States, Europe and other major markets. So Ward maintains that Lenovo will keep all of its employees and its manufacturing capacity in order to take aim at Dell and HP.

Still, keeping customers happy will be a tough task. Analysts are already predicting that major customers will defect. Forrester Research, for one, issued a report Thursday that said the IBM-Lenovo venture could put as many as 14 million PCs up for grabs in the United States. Ward says he is prepared for that too, and with the help of IBM's sales force, the new Lenovo will endeavour to assuage customer concerns.

Ward took some time out Thursday morning to discuss the early aims of the "new Lenovo" and its role in the PC market in the United States, China and parts in-between.