In a day of executive shakeups intended to put its boardroom scandal in the yesteryear , Hewlett - PackardTuesday announced that Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Hurd will interchange Patricia Dunn as chairwoman , and that plank member George Keyworth has resigned , effective immediately .
Hurd will take on the chairman ’s job after a January 18 , 2007 , plank encounter . In addition , Richard Hackborn , who has been on the board since 1992 , has been chosen as the lead autonomous music director as of January .
The announcement came after meeting of the board over the weekend and Monday , called to hash out how to handle recent revelations that the control board investigated its own members and reporters in efforts to determine the source of leaks of fellowship info .
In another executive departure announced Tuesday though not connect by the company to the control panel scandal , HP ’s executive vice president of global procedure , Gilles Bouchard , will leave the company at the conclusion of October .
Although HP executive director said they hope the shakeup put the boardroom infighting behind them , Union , state and Congressional investigation may provide more embarrassment . A House committee has asked HP to identify the private investigative house that dig into the control panel leak to news media and the subcontractor also rent , which used controversial method acting known as “ pretexting ” to check the phone record of director and diarist who enshroud HP .
HP declined Tuesday to identify the contractors .
“ When and how we provide information is between us and the regulatory delegacy , ” said Ryan Donovan , an HP spokesman .
But eventually the name will descend out , say Chris Hoofnagle , senior counselor-at-law at the Samuelson Law Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California at Berkeley .
“ It will get along out , and it will result in another round of news tale and embarrassment for the fellowship , ” said Hoofnagle , an advocate for privateness right .
estimate are that anywhere from 40 to 50 companies plight in “ pretexting ” as an investigative tool and perchance up to 100 that resell such entropy , he said .
“ It ’s too easy to get away with pretexting because in many cases the dupe are unwilling to reveal that their rights have been assault , because they ’re engaged in marital unfaithfulness or they ’re a board leaker , ” Hoofnagle said .
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission , the Federal Trade Commission and the House Energy and Commerce Committee are among the institutions investigating pretexting on a internal level , he say .
Dunn had been under vivid pressure to mistreat down as chairman after it came to luminosity last workweek that the board of director carried out an investigation to find who among the board leaked confidential entropy to journalists . The board accept in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the inner probe involve pretexting , where employee of an fact-finding business firm hired by the fellowship pretended to be reporters to gain admittance to their telephony records .
The investigation identify Keyworth as a leaker of the information . When Keyworth was require to resign , in May , he declined . However , fellow gameboard member Tom Perkins quit in protest over the way the investigation was being deal , and has been outspoken in calling for Dunn to resign .
Union authorities , including the U.S. Department of Justice and a congressional committee , are wonder the board ’s conduct in the investigation and the California attorney full general has said that charges are likely to be filed .
“ The recent event that have rent blank space follow an important investigating that was call for after the board seek to conclude the haunting revelation of confidential data from within its rank and file . These leaks had the potential to affect not only the stock toll of HP but also that of other publically traded companies , ” Dunn said in a write statement relinquish by HP . “ Unfortunately , the investigation , which was conducted by third parties , include sure out or keeping techniques . These went beyond what we understood them to be , and I apologise that they were employed . ”
In a statement , Hurd pledged to take action to verify that such “ inappropriate investigative techniques ” do not happen again . “ They have no place in HP , ” he said in the assertion .
For his part , Keyworth acknowledged Tuesday that he had leak info . But he suppose that he had been asked by HP to peach to reporter on the record and on background .
In a mark that HP is marshal efforts to make public security among current and former manager on its gameboard , Perkins bring out a statement in an HP press release , say , “ I believe in HP . I trust in Mark Hurd . I applaud Jay Keyworth for his courage in tread down today and give thanks Patricia Dunn for her grace in let HP move on . This too shall pass . ”
The board scandal comes at a time when Hurd ’s shakeup elbow grease at HP seem to be give off . Mainly as a outcome of warm PC sales , the caller reported a third fiscal - tail net , excluding one - time charge , of $ 1.7 billion or 52 cents per portion , ticktock expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Financial of 47 cents .
Ironically , one of the leaks that was the subject of the investigation concerned plank discussions that led to the firing off of ex - CEO Carly Fiorina , who engineered the acquisition of Compaq . Under Hurd , that controversial scheme seems to be set out to pay off .
This story was update at 2:25 p.m. PT on September 12 , 2006 to append more item about Dunn ’s surrender .
