Dell Announces New CFO

Mon. May. 19, 2008

Today we announced that Brian Gladden will be joining Dell as Senior Vice President on May 20^th and he will assume the role of CFO on June 13. Brian will succeed Don Carty, who has made a lasting positive impact on Dell's financial organization since stepping in as our CFO in early 2007. Don will remain on our board of directors continuing his long contribution to Dell. Brian will be responsible for all aspects of Dell's finance function including accounting, financial planning and analysis, tax, treasury, audit, and investor relations.

Brian brings a wealth of experience to Dell as an operationally focused CFO who adds further experience with globally scaled companies to one of the deepest management benches in the industry. Brian joins us from SABIC Innovative Plastics Holding BV, formerly GE Plastics, where he was President and CEO of among the world's largest producers of high-performance polymers used by electronics, office equipment, computer, and automotive manufacturers.

His responsibilities at SABIC spanned a global organization with revenues of $7 billion and some 10,000 employees operating 60 manufacturing and technology facilities in 20 countries. Brian's previous experience includes nearly 20 years with General Electric (GE) in a variety of financial and management roles. He served as Vice President and General Manager of GE Plastics' resin business; CFO of GE Plastics; and, Vice President and CFO of GE Medical Systems Healthcare IT business during his career with the company. He was named a GE corporate officer while CFO of GE Plastics and had formerly served for five years as part of GE's corporate audit staff.

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Published Monday, May 19, 2008 08:59 AM
by Lynn A. Tyson, VP - Investor Relations

Filed under: Executives, Dell Corporate

Comments

Twenty year shareholder said:

Wouldn't it have shown a minimum of common sense and concern for Dell shareholders to have announced the change of CFO during the earnings call next week instead of today?

A change of CFO always raises questions about reliability of financial statements or internal wrongdoing -- even for companies, like Dell, not already under accounting clouds. It's at least a temporary negative for the stock. Do you think your shareholders deserve any more negatives for what has become one of the most loathed and suspect companies in the financial markets?

Dell might turn things around, possibly as early as with the earnings announcement next week, but, no matter what happens in the future, it will not make up for the problems caused over the last years for shareholders because of the company's unpardonable inattention and drift -- with the timing of today's announcement being just one more example of bumbling.

There are probably innocuous reasons for Dell's change in CFO: Maybe Carty planned to be only an interim measure after the lamentable former CFO Schneider. Many Dell shareholders will welcome the change because of the baggage Carty brought and his over-reaching propensity, on earnings calls, during the economic malaise of the last year, to offer his gratuitous opinion about prospects for the general economy when even CEO's, including Michael Dell, realized the drill was to leave that hot potato alone.

If the change in CFO had been announced with earnings next week, it would have been a non-issue if the operating results are good (assuming , as seems likely, there is no problem in the CFO shop). If the results are bad, then the change would have been lost in the reaction to them instead of being, as it is now, a separate hit or cloud on the company.

The issue is not just a trivial one. The stock had begun to rally off its five year low. Today's announcement just before earnings is reflective of Dell's ongoing inability to go more than about one month without stirring the waters and throwing up distractions. Please show results on the turnaround and stop it with the relentless interim surprises and poor judgment.

May 19, 2008 3:40 PM

Lynn A. Tyson, VP - Investor Relations said:

@ Twenty year shareholder

Thanks for your views. We are required to disclose the resignation of a section 16 officer within four days of it occurring and the hiring of a section 16 officer and we did just that. Brian was the CEO of a $12B company and they also have a duty to disclose to their employees, bond holders, etc. Once his company disclosed, we needed to follow.

It was known that Don would not be CFO for the long term - evidenced by the coverage by several analysts yesterday and public comments the company had made over the last year. Don's long affiliation with the company as a board member made him an ideal candidate to manage Dell's financial organization through a internal investigation that resulted in a restatement of our financial results. Don strengthened Dell's culture of accountability, our standard of excellence and the company's operational control environment. The result of this effort is a much stronger company.

Now that the investigation is completed and the company is showing signs of improvement it was time to find a longer-term CFO. Brian has a solid finance background - leading large global finance and operating functions for over 20 years - and is well positioned to support Dell as it moves into its next chapter of growth. And as we work to maximize long-term shareholder value, Brian will reinforce a culture of integrity and transparency that is important to us at Dell.

May 20, 2008 6:05 PM