HP Begins Job Search For New CEO

More details are emerging about the woman at the centre of the scandal that led to the resignation of  HP Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd. Meanwhile, officials at the company have already began to search for a new leader.

HP announced Hurd’s resignation late 6 August, following an internal investigation of a sexual harassment accusation leveled in late June by a one-time HP contractor, Jodie Fisher.

According to HP executives, no evidence of sexual harassment could be found – both Hurd and Fisher have said that there was no sexual relationship between them – but that Hurd had violated company business policies through such actions as filing false expense reports to cover up a personal relationship between the two.

HP has put together a panel that will conduct the search for Hurd’s replacement. At the same time, interim CEO Cathie Lesjak, HP’s CFO, and other exeuctives are working to reassure customers, partners and Wall Street that despite Hurd’s abrupt resignation, the company is stable and on solid footing, thanks in large part of the management team that is in place and also was key to HP’s success over the past five years.

Not Just One Person

During a quickly called 6 August conference call, Lesjak said the company was looking forward at what can be accomplished, not back at what had transpired over the course of a month or so.

“I want to be clear that my principal priority as interim CEO is to continue to move the company forward and execute the strategy that is giving us market momentum while the board conducts the search for the next CEO,” Lesjak told those on the call.

HP director Marc Andreessen preceded Lesjak’s comments by saying that even though Hurd is gone, the strength of the company remains.

“HP is not about any one person,” Andreessen said. “Let me tell you what HP is about. This company is more than 300,000 strong. The dynamic of these amazing people around the world working together as a unified team is the driver for the success of our business. We also have a broad and deep executive bench strength that will continue to lead this Company and drive our performance-based culture. HP is a great company, and the reason HP is great is the people, and the people are the reason HP will continue to be great.”

Meanwhile, on 8 August, Fisher, a 50-year-old single mother, occasional actress and former reality television contestant, released a statement, saying that she and Hurd never had a sexual relationship, that she had settled her dispute with him and that she was “surprised and saddened” that Hurd lost his job over the charge. “That was never my intention,” she said.

Expense Reports

According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, HP used to hold party-like events for customers, and Hurd approved of paying Fisher $1,000 (£627) to $10,000 (£6,270) to attend the events and dine with him afterward. After HP stopped holding the events, Fisher accused Hurd of sexual harassment, and Hurd was later questioned regarded charges on his expense reports related to the events.

The company’s board  of directors, already highly sensitive to ethics matters, following a 2006 investigation of then-HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, feared that Fisher would publicise her complaint were it not addressed very seriously. HP’s general counsel, overseen by its board, investigated the claim and “deliberated extensively,” according to an 6 August statement from the company.

Eventually, it found no violation of HP’s sexual harassment policy, but a violation of HP’s Standards of Business Conduct. The investigation of Dunn and Hurd’s appointment followed Carly Fiorina’s controversial tenure at HP CEO.

In her statement, Fisher said she first met Hurd in 2007, when she interviewed for a contractor job with the company.

Television Actress

“At HP, I was under contract to work at high-level customer and executive summit events held around the country and abroad,” she said. “I prepared for those events, worked very hard and enjoyed working for HP.”

According to Gloria Allred, Fisher’s lawyer, the one-time contractor is a single mother raising a son, has a political science degree from Texas Tech and most recently was a vice president with a commercial real-estate company. She also at one time worked on the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control and was a salesperson for a a Fortune 500 company. Fisher also has been in a variety of TV shows and films, some of which were R-rated when she was in her 30s.

Her most recent role was on the NBC reality show “Age of Love,” in which seven attractive 40-somethings (“cougars,” per the show), along with six 20-somethings (labelled “kittens”) competed for the affections of 30-year-old Australian tennis star Mark Philippoussis.

Analysts continue to debate the fallout over Hurd’s resignation, though most believe that HP is in a strong enough position to weather any short-term problems over Hurd’s departure – and the reported $12.2 million (£7.6 million) severance package he was given after he left – will cause.