Pheiffer and Mason resign at Cpq!!!
Incredible! Rosen takes over with an interim mgmt team
Business Wire - April 18, 1999 15:34
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 1999--Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ)
announced today that its Board of Directors formed an Office of the Chief Executive to
oversee the day-to-day running of the Company's operations, effective immediately.
Chairman Benjamin M. Rosen and directors and vice chairmen Frank P. Doyle and Robert
Ted Enloe, III, will constitute the Office of the Chief Executive. Mr. Rosen will serve as
acting CEO and, together with Messrs. Doyle and Enloe, will be actively involved at Houston
headquarters in the daily direction and operations of the Company pending the selection of a
new Chief Executive Officer to replace Eckhard Pfeiffer, who today submitted his
resignation.
"Compaq Computer's market strength and the fundamental correctness of its strategic
direction are as clear to me today as at any time in the Company's great history," said Mr.
Rosen. "Compaq has the best team anywhere in the industry - we have the people necessary
to make the right changes that will reinforce our industry leadership. We have re-energized
this company before, and working together, we will do it again. We will prove to every
customer that this is the best company to serve their information technology needs. And we
will confirm to our investors that Compaq remains a core holding in any portfolio.
"Eckhard Pfeiffer oversaw a period of stunning growth in Compaq's history," said Rosen.
"All those who benefited from that growth owe him a debt of gratitude."
Mr. Pfeiffer said, "Compaq has come a long way since I joined the company in 1983. We are
a world leader in personal computing, enterprise computing and Internet applications. Under
Ben's guidance, I know this company will realize its potential, transforming the industry yet
again. I am thankful to all employees at Compaq for their support and the chance to work
with them."
Mr. Rosen added, "As a Company engaged in transforming its industry for the Internet era,
we must have the organizational flexibility necessary to move at Internet speed, well ahead of
the market at any moment. We must also remain intimately connected to our markets and
customers. We have done it before. We will do it again.
"The Board is committed to move quickly to select the right Chief Executive Officer to lead
the next era of Compaq's growth and development. In the interim, we will move decisively to
take those actions that are indicated."
The Company also said Earl Mason, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has
submitted his resignation effective immediately and has indicated that he will become Chief
Executive Officer of a company in an unrelated industry. Ben Wells, the Company's
Treasurer, has been named acting CFO. The Company has engaged executive search firms
to commence immediately searches for a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial
Officer.
Benjamin M. Rosen is Chairman of the Board of Compaq Computer Corporation and one of
its founders. He is a founding director of Capstone Turbine Corp., a director of Ask Jeeves,
and also a founding partner of Sevin Rosen Funds, the multihundred-million-dollar venture
capital firm that has provided initial venture financing for Compaq, Lotus, Ciena, Citrix,
Cypress Semiconductor, Capstone Turbine and more than 100 other technology companies.
Mr. Rosen is Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of
Technology and a member of the Board of Overseers and Managers of Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Frank P. Doyle retired in 1995 as an Executive Vice President of General Electric Company.
Mr. Doyle had been an Executive Vice President of GE and a member of its corporate
executive office since 1992. He served as a director of Digital Equipment Corporation from
1995 until he joined the Compaq Board in June 1998.
Robert Ted Enloe, III has served as managing partner of Balquita Partners, Ltd., a real estate
and securities investment partnership, since 1996. From 1975 to 1996 he served as
President, and from 1992 to 1996 as Chief Executive Officer, of Liberte Investors. |
