Oracle OpenWorld 2012 Press Briefing – Q & A with Oracle President Mark Hurd -Video Production By Ludo Lamy, Katerina Noskova & KC Leung
Mark Vincent Hurd (born January 1, 1957) is co-president, director, and board member of Oracle Corporation, and the past chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Hewlett-Packard. At Hewlett-Packard, Hurd succeeded CFO Robert Wayman, who served as interim CEO from February 10, 2005 to March 28, 2005, after former CEO Carly Fiorina was forced by the board to resign.On September 22, 2006, Hurd succeeded Pat Dunn as chairman after she resigned after the pretexting controversy. Hurd resigned his positions at HP on August 6, 2010, after an internal investigation uncovered expense-account irregularities.
Education
Hurd graduated in 1979 with a BBA (Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration) from Baylor University, which he attended on a tennis scholarship.
Hurd spent 25 years at NCR Corporation, culminating in a two-year tenure as chief executive officer and president. His leadership was marked by successful efforts to improve operating efficiency, bolster the product line and build strong leadership. In the fiscal year of 2004, NCR generated revenue of $6.0 billion, up 7 percent from a year earlier, and net income rose nearly fivefold to $290 million. He was named president of NCR in 2001 and was given additional responsibilities as chief operating officer in 2002. He began working for NCR as a junior salesman in San Antonio in 1980, and subsequently held a variety of positions in general management, operations, and sales and marketing. He also served as head of the company’s Teradata data-warehousing division for three years.
Hurd is a member of the Technology CEO Council, a coalition of chairmen and chief executive officers of IT companies, which develops and advocates public policy positions on technology and trade. Hurd has since been removed from mention on the official website of the Council and no longer included in the Council’s list of members. He served on the board of directors of News Corporation until 2010.
Hewlett-Packard (2005–2010)
Management style
After the board forced Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina to resign in January 2005, CFO Robert P. Wayman became interim CEO for several months. Hurd was appointed permanent CEO and also held the title of President, a post which was not used by several of his predecessors (Michael Capellas was President of HP briefly in 2002 after its merger with Compaq). Hurd was also elected to the board of directors but unlike previous CEOs, he was initially not designated to be chairman of the board. On September 22, 2006, Hurd succeeded Pat Dunn as chairman after she resigned after the pretexting controversy.
The New York Times said Hurd had “pulled off one of the great rescue missions in American corporate history, refocusing the strife-ridden company and leading it to five years of revenue gains and a stock that soared 130 percent”.
Under his leadership, the company has been the first in the sale of desktop computers since 2007, and laptop computers since 2006. In 2008, it also increased its market share in inkjet and laser printers to 46% and 50.5%, respectively.
Hurd has a reputation for aggressive cost-cutting. He laid off 15,200 workers — 10% of the workforce — shortly after becoming CEO. Other cost-cutting includes reducing the IT department from 19,000 to 8,000, reducing the number of software applications that HP uses from 6,000 to 1,500, and consolidating HP’s 85 data centers to 6. Hurd imposed a 5% pay cut on all employees and removed many benefits. He himself took a base salary pay cut of 20%, although the compensation committee increased his bonus by the same amount. Following the acquisition of EDS, Hurd instructed that all EDS employees should have their salaries adjusted to match the salaries of their HP counterparts, with pay cuts of as much as 20%. He promised that those employees below scale would see their pay scales adjusted through an internal process that never materialized. He forecast that in 2009, HP’s sales could drop as much as 5% in the midst of the recession, but its profit increased by nearly 6%.
In 2009, Hurd was considered one of the “TopGun CEOs” by Brendan Wood International, an advisory agency.
Resignation
On August 6, 2010, he resigned from all of his positions at HP, following discovery of inappropriate conduct in an investigation into a claim of sexual harassment made by former reality TV actress Jodie Fisher. The probe concluded that the company’s sexual-harassment policy was not violated, but that its standards of business conduct were.
After the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that it may be made public, a letter containing details of the sexual harassment claim was published by the New York Times on December 29, 2011.
Hurd said he “realized there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP”, and added that he believed it would be “difficult to continue as an effective leader at HP.” In exchange for releasing HP from future litigation, Hurd received $12.2 million in severance, plus vested options and restricted stock for an estimated total of $34.6 million.
Oracle Corporation’s CEO, Larry Ellison, a close friend of Hurd, sent an e-mail to the New York Times saying “the HP Board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple Board fired Steve Jobs many years ago. That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn’t come back and saved them. HP had a long list of failed CEOs until they hired Mark who has spent the last five years doing a brilliant job reviving HP to its former greatness”.
Compensation
In 2008, Hurd’s total compensation was $33,952,237, including a base salary of $1,450,000, stock award of $7,907,660, cash bonus of $23,931,882, and $662,695 in perquisites and other compensation. It was the largest bonus of any CEO in 2008, although Hurd would implement a wage freeze on his employees.
In 2009, Hurd made a total of $24,201,448, including a base salary of $1,268,750, stock award of $6,648,092, cash bonus of $15,809,414 and $475,192 in benefits and other compensation.Hurd said he believes in what he calls “pay for performance”, such that employees have a substantial part of their salaries “at-risk”, which gets paid only when the company’s performance measures up.
Oracle President Mark Hurd at Oracle Open World 2012- Press Q&A
On September 6, 2010, Hurd was named co-president and member of the board of Oracle Corporation by CEO Larry Ellison. Hurd succeeded Charles Phillips and is currently working to streamline the signup and upgrade process for clients. Safra A. Catz remains the other Oracle co-president.
