TECHNOLOGY : Turnover in AST Executive Ranks Continues

The new year hasn’t been good to some executives at AST Research Inc.

A handful of key vice presidents have left the Irvine-based manufacturer of personal computers recently, capped by an announcement last week of the departure of Gordon Chilton, the top manufacturing executive who had been hired only six months earlier.

AST hasn’t replaced Chilton, who served as senior vice president of worldwide manufacturing, even though it is about to embark on some of its biggest projects: building a European manufacturing plant, possibly in Ireland or Scotland, and expanding its capacity at its Fountain Valley plant.

Chief Executive Safi Qureshey said Friday that the company is moving from an entrepreneurial enterprise to an industry powerhouse. That transition began in June, when co-founder Thomas Yuen left after a power struggle with Qureshey.

At the time, analysts predicted some shake-up in the company’s executive ranks as Qureshey brought aboard a management team suitable for a large corporation.

Besides Chilton, the company’s top marketing official, Michael Morand, left his post as vice president of marketing. Morand organized AST’s first major advertising campaign aimed at increasing its brand-name recognition among non-technical business people. He has not been replaced either.

Other recent departures: Robert Becker, vice president of federal systems, who left in February after the company failed to win a huge federal contract. And Chetan M. Lakhani, vice president for information services, is expected to leave next week. Several engineering and manufacturing directors have also left.

Five current vice presidents joined AST within the past six months. That leaves AST with five veteran executives besides Qureshey who have been with the company since before Yuen left.

Qureshey shrugged off the departures. “I’m trying to build a strong management team.”