HP's Board Split Over Dunn

BusinessWeek (excerpt) ^ | September 11, 2006 | Peter Burrows

[HAL9000]

Excerpts -

With Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn's status in jeopardy for seeking phone records, possibly illegally, in search of leaks, the HP board is in an uproar

~ snip ~

On one side are Dunn and two staunch supporters: Verizon (VZ) Vice-Chairman Lawrence Babbio and former Medtronic (MDT) Chief Financial Officer Rob Ryan. Dunn and her supporters are focused on the need for rock-solid business processes and clear adherence to good governance policies—whether for financial reporting or complying with regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley. "I personally believe Patricia Dunn worked her butt off in the interest of HP," says one director. "As horrible as people may find the results, she was trying to do the right thing."

~ snip ~

[HAL9000]

Lawrence Babbio must be insane. He's the vice-chairman and president of Verizon - he's supposed to be stopping pretexting fraud, not encouraging it. His apparent arrogance and contempt for the law is astonishing. I hope the prosecutors put him on the hit list, because he needs to be removed from Verizon too. Some people are going to jail over this.

[BipolarBob]

Some people are going to jail over this.

I just hope it's the right ones.

[Prince Charles]

An interlocking directorate of spies and shills. The HP board should send the crooks packing.

[ThomasThomas]

Who is Gilles Bouchard?

[HAL9000]

Gilles Bouchard - HP Executive Vice President, Global Operations

[KellyAdmirer]

Dunn should get the axe for wasting company time on such a futile mission, then having it erupt into this. Leaks are everywhere, government, business, whatever. Hunting down phone records isn't going to stop them.

[punster]

Perhaps, the situation can be summed up:

DUNN IS DONE

[elli1]

GEORGE KEYWORTH WILL NOT BE NOMINATED FOR ANOTHER TERM

By Therese Poletti and Michelle Quinn, Mercury News

Computer and printer giant Hewlett-Packard will disclose in a Security and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that it will not nominate board member George ``Jay'' Keyworth for another term because an investigation has found he leaked confidential company information to the press.

Keyworth was director of the Physics Division at Los Alamos Nat'l Lab from 1968-1981 and Science Advisor to President Reagan. (Gotta' wonder if his phone records ever came under scutiny before now?)

[DaveTesla]

Perhaps you have never run a business.(HAl9000)

Leaking out your marketing strategy, pricing, and future products gives competitors a big leg up and can be the
death blow for even a corporation like H.P.

The leaks to Ziff-Davis and the N.Y. Slimes continued for
over a year and date back to when Carley was C.E.O.

Dunn did what she had a fiduciary duty to do.
Find the leaker and plug the leak.

I am quite certain she did not direct the investigators
on their methodology. Just like when you hire a plummer
(pun intended) do you tell him what solder to use?

The real TRAITOR and criminal ( espionage, sabotage )
is the leaker.

Cultural MARXISIM strikes again!

[stocksthatgoup]

She's Dunn Alright

[dennisw]

bttt

[DaveTesla]

More your management style?

[HAL9000]

Perhaps you have never run a business.(HAl9000)

I do run a business, and I understand the problems of leaks. I also know that we have laws protecting the confidentiality of financial records. And I have a pretty good idea where this investigation is headed next, and who will be found to be involved.

Tom Perkins recognized that the law was broken right away. Dunn should have known that the evidence she relied on against Keyworth was obtained illegally. If she didn't recognize it, she is too stupid to be the chairwoman of the eleventh largest U.S. company. Verizon vice-chairman Babbio especially should have know since Verizon is suing pretexters, so there is no way that he can be ignorant of the law. Perhaps he is so accustomed to breaking the law and getting away with it that he doesn't recognize that his actions at H-P will jeopardize his position at Verizon.

You don't seem to understand that the leaks of private account information from the phone company, obtained by fraud and illegal use of Social Security Numbers, is a much more serious problem than boardroom leaks.