SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman Ray Lane is stepping down and two other board members are leaving in a shake-up spurred by disgruntled stockholders stung by the personal computer maker's downfall.
The housecleaning announced Thursday comes just two weeks after HP barely rebuffed a shareholder rebellion aimed at Lane, the company's chairman since November 2010, and John Hammergren and G. Kennedy Thompson, the two longest serving members on the board.
Although he is relinquishing the chairman's role, Lane will remain on HP's board. He will be replaced on an interim basis by Ralph Whitworth, a shareholder activist who has been on the board for less than 18 months. Whitworth, whose firm owns 34.5 million HP shares, hinted the board would be overhauled under questioning from testy shareholders during the company's March 20 annual meeting.
Hammergren, the CEO of pharmaceutical drug distributor McKesson Corp., and Thompson, the former CEO of troubled bank Wachovia Corp., will depart after HP's board meeting next month. Their exodus means none of HP's directors will have been on the board for longer than four years. Hammergren joined the board in 2005 and Thompson was appointed in 2006.
HP intends to name two new directors to replace Hammergren and Kennedy by the end of this year. Until then, HP will have nine directors on its board.