Carly Fiorina
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Carly_Fiorina.jpg
Cara Carleton Sneed "Carly" Fiorina (Sneed is her maiden name; she married AT&T exec Frank Fiorina in 1985; he took early retirement in 1998) (born September 6 1954 in Austin, Texas) was CEO (1999–2005) and Chairman of the Board (2000–2005) of Hewlett-Packard (HP), an American technology company. Fiorina attended Stanford University as an undergraduate and studied medieval history and philosophy. Later, she attended law school at University of California, Los Angeles but dropped out to pursue a career in business. She earned an MBA at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park and an MS in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management under the Sloan Fellow program.
Before joining HP in July 1999 she worked at AT&T and Lucent Technologies. She was listed by Fortune (magazine) as the most powerful woman in business for six years in a row until 2004, when the honor went to eBay CEO Meg Whitman.
In 2002, Fiorina pushed through a controversial merger with rival company Compaq. The promised benefits failed to materialize, and many analysts claim that the move diluted the value of HP's otherwise profitable imaging and printer division. Since the merger, quarterly results have been inconsistent, which led to several sharp sell-offs in the shares. The company's stock price in 2005 was off two thirds from its high in 2000.
On 9 February 2005, Carly Fiorina was ousted as chairman and chief executive officer of HP. The Board of Directors had previously threatened to reduce her responsibilities.
"While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute HP's strategy, I respect their decision," Fiorina said in a statement. "HP is a great company and I wish all the people of HP much success in the future."
Under Hewlett-Packard's severance agreement, Carly Fiorina will get US$14 million in cash, which is 2.5 times her base salary and target bonus. HP will also pay her US$5.88 million under its 2003-2004 long-term performance cash program, and US$1.5 million, which is the pro-rated amount of her awards under the 2004-2005 program. Her total severance package could total US$42 million. (Source: [1] (http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/40594.html), 14 February 2005)
In March 2005, it was reported that Fiorina was being considered for appointment as the next President of the World Bank. However, President George W. Bush eventually nominated Paul Wolfowitz for the position (Wolfowitz was confirmed by World Bank's executive board on March 31st 2005).
Fiorina holds positions on the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum. Ms. Fiorina is an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School.
External links
- 1999 Wall St. Journal bio (http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/success/19990728-lublin.html)
- current HP bio (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/bios/fiorina.html)
- HP Press Release - "HP Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina Steps Down" (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2005/050209a.html?mtxs=home-corpP&mtxb=B1&mtxl=L1)
- "Losing the HP Way" (http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/03/22/hp/)
- "The Surprise Player Behind The Coup At HP" (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_11/b3924044_mz011.htm)
- ZDNet - Video Timeline of Fiorina's Tenure (http://zdnet.com.com/1606-2-5571763.html)
- Biography at Washington Speakers Bureau (http://www.washspkrs.com/speakers/speaker.cfm?SpeakerId=4282&CFID=2869602&CFTOKEN=85071118)de:Carly Fiorina