Another Top Officer Leaves Ingram Micro
One month after announcing it was looking for a new chief executive, Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. on Tuesday said it has lost another senior executive, a potential candidate for the top job.
Jeffrey Rodek, 46, who has been president and chief operating officer of the company since 1995, has resigned to head a Silicon Valley software firm, Ingram Micro said.
Rodek’s departure comes as the company searches for a replacement for Jerre Stead, who will relinquish the chief executive title while retaining the chairmanship.
Last month, the company also announced the departure of Phil Ellett, who oversaw the computer distributor’s U.S. operations.
While some industry watchers have expressed worry about the turnover, pointing to other resignations by high-level executives moving to take the reins of other companies, Stead dismissed the concerns, saying that only 21 of the company’s 400 senior executives have departed. Nearly all have been replaced, he added.
Some analysts also downplayed the announcement.
“On the one hand, Rodek’s a great guy and you always miss a great guy,” said Robert Anastasi, a financial analyst with Raymond James. “On the other hand, this is a company with a very deep bench and hopefully those two are self-canceling.” While company officials would not discuss whether Rodek was a candidate to succeed Stead, Anastasi said that “given his position, you obviously had to assume that he was a possibility.”
Rodek leaves the world’s largest computer distributor to become the chief executive at Sunnyvale-based Hyperion Solutions Corp., which markets high-end analytical database software. Rodek has been on Hyperion’s board of directors for a year.
During a conference call, both Rodek and Stead said the departure was cordial.
“Jerre and I had been talking about my desire to attain a CEO position since early this year, and there have been quite a few opportunities. . .,” said Rodek, adding that he was first approached about the Hyperion job in August. “The opportunity is there now and I chose to take it.”
Stead said the company will not fill Rodek’s position, opting instead to hire a new chief executive and let that person choose how the organization should be structured.
Separately, Ingram officials said a small pilot program with Softbank Corp. to market generic computers, often called “white boxes,” in Japan proved unsuccessful. The program did not affect the two companies’ larger partnership to distribute computer hardware and software worldwide.
Rodek’s departure was announced after the stock market had closed for the day. Ingram Micro’s stock fell 6 cents a share to close at $13.13 in quiet trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
