The company's board met today and named Michael Capellas, a long-time information technology executive who'd served as its chief operating officer since June 2. Compaq (NYSE:CPQ) will dissolve the office of the president it had put in place three months ago, after it dismissed Eckhard Pfeiffer.
Capellas, 44, joined Compaq (NYSE:CPQ) only last August, replacing John White as senior vice president and chief information officer. In early June, after Compaq's board ousted CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer, Capellas was elevated to a newly created chief operating officer post. He was the only executive reporting directly to the Office of the Chief Executive, created after Pfeiffer's departure and comprising chairman Ben Rosen and board members Frank Doyle and Robert Ted Enloe.
Rosen remains chairman of the board.
Capellas' appointment is surprising because many analysts had expected Pfeiffer's replacement to come from outside the company. Much had been made of Pfeiffer's failure to groom a successor internally.
As CIO, Capellas has been under the microscope to merge Compaq's information systems with that of Tandem and Digital, a monumental task that executives had said was moving slower than expected.
Capellas came to Compaq after a year at Oracle Corp., where he was senior vice president of its global energy business. The year before that he was SAP America's as director of supply chain management. For the 15 years prior to that, he was at Schlumberger Ltd. in a variety of senior management positions.
In a statement, Rosen said "As COO, Michael has already mobilized the organization, moving us forward at Internet speed. He has united and energized our entire management team around a sound strategic business plan." It was the second surprise CEO announcement of the week in the high tech industry. On Tuesday, Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP) named Carly Fiorina CEO. Ann Livermore, a 17-year HP veteran, had been widely anticipated to get the job.
Compaq Computer Corp. looked outside but went inside for its CEO.
The company's board met today and named Michael Capellas, a long-time information technology executive who'd served as its chief operating officer since June 2. Compaq (NYSE:CPQ) will dissolve the office of the president it had put in place three months ago, after it dismissed Eckhard Pfeiffer.
Capellas, 44, joined Compaq (NYSE:CPQ) only last August, replacing John White as senior vice president and chief information officer. In early June, after Compaq's board ousted CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer, Capellas was elevated to a newly created chief operating officer post. He was the only executive reporting directly to the Office of the Chief Executive, created after Pfeiffer's departure and comprising chairman Ben Rosen and board members Frank Doyle and Robert Ted Enloe.
Rosen remains chairman of the board.
Capellas' appointment is surprising because many analysts had expected Pfeiffer's replacement to come from outside the company. Much had been made of Pfeiffer's failure to groom a successor internally.
As CIO, Capellas has been under the microscope to merge Compaq's information systems with that of Tandem and Digital, a monumental task that executives had said was moving slower than expected.
Capellas came to Compaq after a year at Oracle Corp., where he was senior vice president of its global energy business. The year before that he was SAP America's as director of supply chain management. For the 15 years prior to that, he was at Schlumberger Ltd. in a variety of senior management positions.
In a statement, Rosen said "As COO, Michael has already mobilized the organization, moving us forward at Internet speed. He has united and energized our entire management team around a sound strategic business plan." It was the second surprise CEO announcement of the week in the high tech industry. On Tuesday, Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP) named Carly Fiorina CEO. Ann Livermore, a 17-year HP veteran, had been widely anticipated to get the job.
