Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?
No, thank you Accept
X
WWDC: Everything We ExpectRemote Working in ParadiseBest Mineral SunscreensBest Solar CompaniesCNET CouponsMeal Subscription vs. TakeoutBest Satellite Internet ProvidersCurrent Mortgage Rates

This week in the corner office

This week saw the passing of the leadership torch at a few tech companies, including a long-anticipated promotion at Intel.

Steven_Musil2.jpg
Steven_Musil2.jpg
Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
Expertise I have more than 30 years' experience in journalism in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
See full bio
Steven Musil
2 min read
This week saw the passing of the leadership torch at a few tech companies, including a long-anticipated promotion at Intel.


Paul Otellini
CEO, Intel

Paul Otellini took over as the chipmaker's CEO, replacing Craig Barrett. A 31-year veteran of the company and the fifth CEO at Intel, Otellini told analysts and shareholders at the company's annual meeting that the PC market continues to be a vibrant one.

With the promotion of Otellini to CEO, Barrett will become chairman. Andy Grove, meanwhile, will step down as an active member of the board. The fourth employee hired at Intel, Grove served, among other jobs, as president, CEO and chairman.

Otellini differs in many ways from his predecessors. He is the first Intel CEO not to be an engineer. He came out of finance and sales. Still, like earlier chief executives, he's a lifer, having arrived at Intel after turning down job offers at Advanced Micro Devices and Fairchild.

In the PC arena, Gateway co-founder Ted Waitt resigned as the computer maker's chairman and as a director, saying he now wants to pursue philanthropic and business interests. Waitt served as Gateway's chairman for 20 years. His departure comes at a time when sales of Gateway computers are showing signs of a turnaround and the company is about to post its first profitable year since 2000.

Richard Snyder will take over for Waitt as chairman. Snyder has been a Gateway board member since 1991 and is a former president and chief operating officer at the company.

Completing the CEO hat trick is Symbian, which announced Nigel Clifford will be the company's new chief executive starting in June. He takes over from David Levin, who left the smart-phone operating-system company in April to become the chief executive at United Business Media.

Clifford, 45, was formerly CEO at Tertio Telecoms, a telecommunications software and service provider. He will be charged with boosting the company's shipments in the midrange mobile segment.