HP leadership picks hint at product fates
Published: 04 Apr 2002 11:10 BST
Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday announced further details of who will help lead a combined company, assuming the deal to acquire Compaq Computer is cleared.
The company named 150 senior managers who will report to the top leadership, including HP chief exectuive Carly Fiorina, who will lead the combined company, and Compaq chief executive Michael Capellas, who will be president.
HP appears to have placed executives from both companies in senior positions. Among the appointments:
* Kasper Rorsted, a Compaq executive, will head up Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
* The Enterprise Systems Group, which oversees servers and workstations, will be run by Peter Blackmore, a Compaq executive.
* Mary McDowell, who runs Compaq's Intel-based server group, will continue to hold that job in the merged company.
* Compaq executive Howard Elias will run Network Storage Solutions.
* Nora Denzel, an HP executive, will run software.
* HP's Scott Stallard will continue to oversee Unix servers.
* The Personal Systems Group will be run by Duane Zitsner, an HP executive.
* Alex Gruzen, who oversaw Compaq's notebook efforts, will take over notebooks in the merged company.
* Jeri Callaway, who will head up business PCs, and Mike Larson, who will oversee North American sales for the Personal Systems Group, both come from Compaq.
* Consumer PCs -- an HP strength -- will be headed up by John Romano, current head of HP's Home Products unit.
Among other HP executives, Jim McDonnell and Eric Cador will hold high-ranking positions.
The appointments are a strong indication of which product lines HP will keep after the merger. The company has already said it will retain many of Compaq's brands and products, as well as the managers who run those divisions. But the fact that McDowell and Gruzen will oversee Intel-based servers and notebooks is a sign that HP may phase out its own competing products.
Last week, HP promised that this week it would name the additional managers and outline the process that would be used to determine which jobs are maintained in the combined company.
HP is moving ahead with plans for the merged company even though votes from its March 19 shareholder meeting on the deal are still being tabulated. HP has said it believes it has won by a slim but sufficient margin, while opponent Walter Hewlett, a director on HP's board, has refused to concede defeat. Hewlett has also filed a lawsuit seeking to have votes in favor of the deal thrown out.
A hearing on HP's motion to dismiss the case, which alleges that the computer maker improperly influenced one of its shareholders to change its vote, is set for Sunday morning in Delaware. The judge also set an April 23 trial date, assuming the case is not dismissed, an HP representative said.
The deal, which was valued at $25bn when it was announced, is currently worth about $19.4bn, based on HP's current share price.
News.com's Michael Kanellos contributed to this report.
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