Western’s Stephens Takes Top Emulex Job

Emulex Corp. said Tuesday that it has named a top Western Digital Corp. executive, Robert N. Stephens, its new president and chief executive.

Stephens, formerly senior vice president and general manager at Irvine-based Western Digital, will fill the chief executive’s post that was vacated when Emulex Chairman Fred B. Cox announced in July he would surrender the titles of president and chief executive. Cox’s announcement came after the Costa Mesa computer products company reported a $2.2-million loss for the quarter ended April 1.

“Bob has been successful at Western Digital in taking three divisions and making them grow profitably,” said Cox, who remains as Emulex’s chairman. “While (the divisions) are not directly competitive, they have similar characteristics to our markets, and we expect he will be able to build our company.”

Emulex manufactures storage and networking products primarily for Digital Equipment Corp., a minicomputer maker that has been hard hit by a protracted downturn in minicomputer sales.

Stephens joined Western Digital in 1986 and served in several executive positions. In January, he assumed his most recent post, heading the Microcomputer Products Group, with responsibility for research and development, marketing and manufacturing of Western Digital’s imaging, communication and systems-logic product lines.

Stephens is the second top executive to leave Western Digital recently. A. J. (Bert) Moyer resigned as chief financial officer in August shortly after Kathryn A. Braun, senior vice president and general manager of the company’s storage products group, was promoted to executive vice president.

Stephens said his decision to leave Western Digital was unrelated to Braun’s promotion. He cited the opportunity to be a chief executive as influencing his decision. He said he is encouraged by Emulex’s financial turnaround since its April loss, but he sees a challenge in trying to focus Emulex’s product development efforts on faster-growing markets.

“I think Fred Cox has done an excellent job of developing the business,” Stephens said. “Fred has been wonderful, and I’m pleased he has taken the approach he has. That was a critical part of my decision.”

Stephens will replace David W. Hanna, who has been serving as Emulex’s interim president since Cox gave up that post. Hanna will continue as an Emulex director, and Stephens will join the company’s board.

Before joining Western Digital, Stephens held executive positions with International Business Machines, was vice president of manufacturing and operations at Magnuson Computer Systems and was president and CEO of California Network Systems.