Splat! Fiorina hits glass ceiling at HP -- she's out

[kostby]

Fiorina out at Hewlett-PackardFrom staff and wire reportsCarly Fiorina, one of industry's highest ranking women, has stepped down as chairman and chief executive at Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), effective immediately, the company said Wednesday. The board named Robert Wayman, H-P's chief financial officer, interim chief executive. Patricia Dunn, an H-P director since 1998, has been named non-executive chairman of the board, also effective immediately. Hewlett-Packard, which has seen its stock fall 66% since Fiorina took over as CEO in 1999, rose 11% in premarket trading.Fiorina pushed through H-P's acquisition of Compaq Computer in 2002 despite fierce resistance from shareholders and directors. "We thank Carly for her significant leadership over the past six years as we look forward to accelerating execution of the company's strategy," said Dunn, on behalf of the board. "While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute H-P's strategy, I respect their decision," Fiorina said. ABOUT CARLY FIORINA Age: 50. Born Sept. 6, 1954, in Austin, Texas. Attended five high schools in Ghana, London, North Carolina and California. Father, Joseph Sneed, is a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge in San Francisco. Mother, Madelon Sneed, deceased, was an abstract artist.Degrees: Bachelor's in medieval history and philosophy from Stanford; master's in business administration from the University of Maryland; master of science from MIT's Sloan School.Career: Began as saleswoman for AT&T and spent nearly 20 years with AT&T and Lucent Technologies, becoming president of Lucent's Global Service Provider Business. Spearheaded the planning and execution of Lucent's 1996 initial public offering and subsequent spinoff from AT&T.Took over at Hewlett-Packard in July 1999. Pushed through merger with Compaq Computer in 2002.Link to full USA Today story --> http://www.usatoday.com/money/...x.htm

[Atomb]

as the saying goes..."you only get promoted to the level of incompetance"

[joatmon]

I had a lot more respect for HP computers before they merged with Compaq. I had a Compaq PC once, never will again

[Stang2Vibe]

I like HP's printers, but that is about it. Oh, and I like my HP digital camera, for the most part. My g/f's sister has a new HP laptop and it is pretty nice and quite fast, but I don't think I'd buy one. Just my preferences, I guess.But the title of this thread states that this woman hit a glass ceiling at HP. I don't see any evidence of that from what was presented. It seems that she had one of the highest positions in the company, I don't know that you can go much higher than she did. I'd say that she probably smashed through the glass ceiling. It seems that she was asked to resign because her business decisions, whether in part or in whole, have been steering the company in a negative direction. Also according to the info presented, she has held her executive position with HP for 5-6 years and during that period the business has been on a downward slide. It is most likely that it was not ALL her fault, but after several years of being unable to lead any sort of recovery, she essentially got canned. So goes life for high-ranking business executives, be they male OR female.

[gpk99]

NO great loss...wasnt she the compromise CEO selection in that power struggle between the old skool(who should have got it)and the stockholders who deemed her the messiah of the next coming?.......seems like she got her what we knew all along she'd get......red ink!