Conference 7.286::digital

    We are hearing a rumor here in Chicago that Ed Lucente has quit!
    
    Any truth to this, anyone?
    
    J

    Yes, it's true. See topic 3023 in this conference.
    
    		Alfred

	Yes. Read 3023.0

						mike

    We have now heard that the CFO and Palmer are out also!
    
    J

    But believe some of it.  I think either the CFO or BP will have to take
    the fall for this quarter's surprise.
    

Just out of curiosity, how could the CFO become culpable for the loss?

It's not a position I normally associate with the company's direction,
or lack thereof.

-Jack

Not culpable for the loss, but perhaps culpable for not recognizing the
extent of the loss until so late.

    
> Just out of curiosity, how could the CFO become culpable for the loss?
> 
> It's not a position I normally associate with the company's direction,
> or lack thereof.
    
    I believe a ton of our problems are because we can not accurately
    describe how much our products cost due to lousy cost accounting
    practices.
    
    I believe a ton of our problems are because we can not accurately
    describe how profitable each of our businesses are due to lousy cost
    accounting practices.                                       
    
    I believe aquiring financial information is incredibly slow,
    inaccurate, and expensive.
    
    I also have seen little to believe this is a situation that is
    improving a heck of a lot.  IMO the CFO is vital in providing the
    methods to track the needed info to manage and lead a organization. 
    Methods and infor currently lacking at Digital.
    
    IMO of course,
    Greg 
                  

    Who is gonna blow "REVEILLE" for the sales force?
    
    
          

    Is that REVEILLE or "TAPS"!
    

Pesatori officially owns the sales force, now, but I expect him to name someone
to actually run the field organization.

For all Lucente's apparant problems, at least the guy had sales experience.

BTW, Bob Russell (recently named to head industry marketing in the US) also
resigned.

       Oppinger, CFO Europe, has also left..
    

    
    Did it seem strange to anyone that the announcement of Lucente's
    departure was strung on the end of the announcement of someone elses 
    taking over his responsibilities?

     <<< Note 3024.14 by GRANMA::MWANNEMACHER "treat others well" >>>
    
    
      <  Did it seem strange to anyone that the announcement of Lucente's
      <  departure was strung on the end of the announcement of someone
      <  elses
      <  taking over his responsibilities?
    
    Not lost on these sore eyes.  Some might call it proper communication
    with the employees, others might call it class.  Whatever you call it
    we obviously lack it.
    
    

  <<< Note 3024.14 by GRANMA::MWANNEMACHER "treat others well" >>>
    
    
>      <  Did it seem strange to anyone that the announcement of Lucente's
>      <  departure was strung on the end of the announcement of someone
>      <  elses
>      <  taking over his responsibilities?
>    
>    Not lost on these sore eyes.  Some might call it proper communication
>    with the employees, others might call it class.  Whatever you call it
>    we obviously lack it.

It seems though that the real importance of this method of notification (as
well as Lucente's destination) has escaped most everyone.  Why in the world
would you go from a high-paying job in industry to a professor at a university?

Think about that one for a while. 

If you ask me, Lucente tried to outsmart 'ol Bob by publicly embarrassing
him with the REAL numbers and he paid for it with his career!
    

IMHO cw

  	>Did it seem strange to anyone that the announcement of Lucente's
        >departure was strung on the end of the announcement of someone
        >elses
        >taking over his responsibilities?


Yes, I noticed that and I agree, it seemed out of the ordinary...

But so do a lot of things around here these days.    

Would you rather say:  Our Executive V.P. left so we're putting
			someone else in to do the job.

		or:	The V.P. in charge of one of our most 
			successful businesses will now manage
			all our business, and by the way, the
			guy that brought us Q3 is gone.

    Bob Russell resigned ??? I heard just 15 minutes ago that he's still
    around, and scheduled a concall with his marketing organization
    tomorrow.  Please verify or give my reference to something in writing ? 
    These rumors are starting to drive me nuts !!!!!  Is anyone left in
    management or was it a clean sweep ???
    

    re .1
    
    He was most likely given the boot. The timing suggests that his leaving
    is a tad more than mere coincidence. For some unknown reason, when
    VP's get terminated, they aren't booted out as the rest of us would be,
    they are shown the trashcan and then must jump into it themselves.
    

Ed Lucente visited Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago to:

1. hold a "town meeting"
2. visit Carnegie Mellon - the reason is now clear
3. spend the weekend with his mom.


For some reason, despite the content of town meetings, I always find these 
forums interesting since it gives some insight into the thought processes of a 
senior VP.

I found myself agreeing with much of Lucente's candid assessment of Digital's 
problems, but there was one story that he told which really made me wonder.

He related the fact that Personnel had convened some top performing employees 
from various areas throughout the world to solicit their inputs on the company, 
the management, etc.  The overwhelming feedback was that people were sick of 
change (I took this to mean organizational) and that morale was extremely low, 
a fact which is no surprise to any of us.  Lucente went on to say that 
Personnel made various recommendations about how to deal with these issues, but 
he rejected all of them!

His reasoning was that the industry will continue to change at a rapid pace and 
that Digital, since we waited too long to change, will need to change more 
rapidly than the average.  It seems to me that people are not reacting so much 
to changing paradigms within our industry as they are to flip-flop reorgs every 
six to nine months which just continue to shift our problems from column A to 
column B and back again.

His reaction to the "low morale" issue was to say that morale would be better 
if we fixed the internal systems so that we could ship what we sell in a timely 
fashion and not get so hung up with internal paperwork (there was more to his 
comment, but the gist of it was that we don't have low morale as much as high 
frustration levels).  While I'm sure that fixing these problems would make us 
somewhat happier, I think that is the tip of the iceberg.  He seemed to totally 
dismiss the rest of the iceberg.

I don't understand how we can turn things around without addressing the moral 
issue.  It's a cancer that just keeps eating away at what left of the spirit of 
Digital.

I am feeling good about this move.  I don't know if I'll have a place in this 
company over the next couple of years, but I feel better about the possibility 
of a turnaround now that there seems to be a "team" at the top.  I guess when 
you consider all of the talk about selling hardware vs. software, product vs. 
services, CBUs vs. geographies, there seemed to be a definite conflict between 
Ed Lucente's strategy and the rest of the SLT.  Maybe now the mixed messages 
will stop and we can get on with it.

Here's hoping!

	  >     Oppinger, CFO Europe, has also left..

	Just for the record, and based on a factual announcement (not a
	rumour):

	Werner Oppliger, a much respected, 18 year veteran of Digital, is
	the person you are referring to.  He was the VP Finance and CFO 
	for Europe until January, 1994, when he moved to the position of
	VP Office of the President in Europe.  He is leaving the company
	at the end of April and will be missed by many.  He has been 
	requested to continue as Chairman of the Boards of both the German 
	and Swiss subsidiaries, and as a member of the boards of two other
	Digital entities.

	Shalom
	Baruch
	
	

From what I have heard and can put together (and I'm NOT privy to the SLT's
internal communications, so don't take this as the absolute truth), there was
conflict within the SLT about moving towards selling more through distributors
and stores. Pesatore and Cabrinetty both support using distributors. I believe
Lucente was on the other side of this battle. We can guess who won.

My opinion is that as our product sales move towards low-margin products, we
have to move towards low-cost sales. Distributors and stores cost us less per
sale. But then, I'm biased, working for Components and Perhipherals, which has
been moving to commodity markets for years.

    I love all this press we got today, keeping our name in front of our
    clients and all that.
    
    I don't have this on-line, but whoever can, should extract it and put
    in this conference, so that we know what our customers are reading.

    RE: .24
    
    Yup, my wife just called to tell me that Digital made front page
    headlines in today's WSJ. She's making a copy for me to read tonight.
    
    I think it was reaction to the Lucente/Pesatori announcement.
    
    kjg

Striving to Adapt: At Digital Equipment, A Resignation Reveals Key Problem:
Selling;  Moving Goods but Making Scant Profit, Firm Ousts Head of Its 
Sales Force;  Board Puts Pressure on CEO

By John R. Wilke Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

             Just last month, Digital Equipment Corp.'s chief executive
          officer, Robert B. Palmer, had reason to believe the loss-plagued
          computer maker was turning around: Reports from the sales force
          indicated revenue was holding up and new products were taking off.
             But Mr. Palmer was jolted by a rude surprise. While product sales
          weren't bad in the company's fiscal third quarter, service revenue
          was off sharply, sales costs were rising and rampant discounting was
          swallowing any possible profit. The resulting $183 million loss led
          to a run on Digital's stock, lower credit ratings and new worries
          about the future of a company once regarded as among the best in the
          business because of its well-engineered machines.
            In the wake of the poor results, the board of directors is giving
          the 53-year-old Mr. Palmer one more quarter to show new progress
          toward a turnaround, company insiders say.
             At a board meeting last week, it also agreed with Mr. Palmer --
          who inherited a company burdened by the excess of its huge successes
          throughout the 1980s -- that the company's No. 2 executive, sales
          and marketing chief Edward E. Lucente, had to go. Mr. Lucente
          resigned yesterday, effective immediately. Digital named Enrico
          Pesatori, head of its fast-growing personal-computer unit, to
          succeed him.
             Mr. Lucente, 54, regarded by some as a possible successor to Mr.
          Palmer, is apparently being held accountable for not cutting
          expenses deeply enough and losing control of a huge and expensive
          push to close business at the end of the latest quarter. Both Mr.
          Lucente and Mr. Palmer declined comment.
             Indeed, selling strategy is a central challenge for Digital. The
          company faces problems that have long proved intractable with its
          sales force, which Mr. Lucente, once one of International Business
          Machines Corp.'s star sales executives, couldn't get into shape.
          Years of neglect by top management formed the sales force into "the
          worst in the world" in individual productivity, Mr. Palmer said
          shortly after taking the CEO job 18 months ago.
             Long paid on a salary basis without commissions, Digital's sales
          force attracted "the opposite of the kind of person drawn to sales
          across the rest of the computer industry -- it wasn't a risk-taking
          culture," says Jack Falvey, a management consultant. And at about
          20,000 strong, the sales force now accounts for almost a fifth of
          Digital's work force of 92,000, down from a 1989 peak of 126,000.
             But it is certain to shrink. The board also backed an accelerated
          cost-cutting plan likely to slash the work force by an additional
          20,000 people in the next two years, which will prompt another
          charge against earnings, people close to the company say.
             But Mr. Lucente's departure could also add to turmoil in the
          senior ranks, which have already been reorganized repeatedly. In a
          year on the job, Mr. Lucente rapidly consolidated power, touching
          every aspect of the company's operations and filling essential posts
          with loyalists. "Everything that wasn't nailed down, he owned," a
          sales executive says. Another says that Digital management "is going
          to discover Lucente's people are now running most of the company."
             Mr. Lucente's ouster, according to people familiar with the
          board's deliberations, was also a rejection of an abrasive and
          autocratic management style. "People were afraid to tell him the bad
          news," despite worsening conditions in the field, says one person.
             Digital has lost more than $3 billion in the past three years in
          its so-far unsuccessful struggle to adapt to a changing market. More
          computer buyers want smaller machines that run on standard software,
          not the proprietary VAX systems that have been Digital's mainstay.
          Annual revenue is stagnant at about $14 billion.
             Digital has products that address the new needs, including
          personal computers, and a speedy new microchip, the Alpha. But
          companies like Digital that are shifting to standard, low-margin
          products also need different distribution channels, such as retail
          stores and direct-mail sales. Mr. Palmer's problem is that Digital
          doesn't have a large number of those channels open. Without them, he
          still must rely on the sales force. After last quarter's disastrous
          results, Mr. Palmer said Digital had too many salespeople -- but
          added that the company can't cut them without forfeiting revenue.
             For a long while, Digital's products were the hottest alternative
          to mainframe computers, and because they were cheaper, they almost
          sold themselves. But when competition arrived, the Digital sales
          staff was hopelessly outclassed. Digital founder Kenneth H. Olsen
          had always preached that the company should never sell customers
          something they didn't need, so Digital's salespeople spent much of
          their time dwelling on technical explanations, and did little hard
          selling.
             The lack of commissions for years drove away good salespeople.
          When commissions were put in place by Mr. Palmer, the new system
          backfired under Mr. Lucente's oversight, insiders say. Some salesmen
          sold product at little or no profit to pump up volume -- and their
          compensation. The sales force has been reorganized over and over,
          the latest shakeup overturning a new structure that Mr. Palmer
          himself put in place. When top management wanted middle managers cut
          from the sales ranks, they asked middle managers to carry out the
          order. So, many front-line people serving customers got the ax while
          the bulk of managers remained.
             Russell Forquer, a former Digital salesman in Erie, Pa., was one
          of the people let go. Only weeks before he was dismissed in December
          1992, he was given a raise, a bonus and a trip to Hawaii, to
          recognize his strong performance along with several hundred of
          Digital's other top salespeople. Mr. Forquer says he sold $2.1
          million in Digital equipment in his last year, but was let go in an
          across-the-board cost-cutting move. But when his boss's position was
          eventually eliminated, Mr. Forquer says, he was able to find another
          sales-management job with the company.
             "They were supposed to eliminate the overhead in the sales force,
          not the people on the street making sales," he says. "But the
          old-boy network was too strong." He contends upper management "has
          no idea what is going on in the trenches."
             Today, he still sells Digital computers, "the best on the
          market." But he sells them for one of the company's outside
          distributors, which yields a lower profit for Digital. He did more
          than $1.7 million in sales in his 11 months away from the company.
             Although Digital, which is based in Maynard, Mass., retains many
          top-notch salespeople, its sales productivity overall is wanting.
          Hewlett-Packard Co., which recently surpassed Digital as the No. 2
          computer maker behind IBM, has revenue roughly equal to more than
          $300,000 for each employee. Digital's current revenue per employee
          is half of that, at $155,000.
             Indeed, Digital's engineering-driven culture had long placed
          sales and marketing in the back seat. At a 1990 exposition of the
          company's products, for instance, a special area was set up to show
          customers some of the hottest products the company still had in the
          development laboratories. But the night before, while the exhibit
          was being set up, salespeople who needed a preview were barred from
          the area; the show's manager erected a wall of large potted plants
          to keep them from seeing what was inside.
             John Whiteside, a software engineer and management specialist who
          left Digital in 1992, says isolation of the sales force from the
          engineering heart of the company caused its products "to become more
          and more detached from market realities and what customers were
          telling the sales force that they actually wanted. Without that
          input from sales, we were blind to that."
             At the same time, he says, "the engineering community often
          wouldn't explain products fully, or when salepeople would ask for
          help from the field, they'd be told to figure it out for
          themselves."
             In the latest quarter, insiders say the new sales-commission plan
          may have helped deepen the loss. They say that discounts or other
          sweet terms were struck in the field, without adequate management
          controls, and that this lack of oversight is being placed at Mr.
          Lucente's door.
             Meanwhile, with so much talk about the need to shrink the sales
          force, those who are left are on edge. "People are scared. Tap
          someone on the shoulder and they're liable to jump a foot in the
          air," says a top salesman. "Everyone's working flat-out to make
          their fourth-quarter numbers -- yet a lot of them know that on July
          1st they're history."
             Some salesmen staunchly defend Mr. Lucente, saying he represents
          the toughness and discipline that has long been lacking at the
          company. But it was Mr. Lucente's harsh management style that
          clinched his departure, say people familiar with last week's board
          meeting. One person at the meeting says the board received reports
          that his senior management group was "riven by resentment and anger"
          over what was described as Mr. Lucente's domineering management
          style.
             Last month, for instance, Mr. Lucente visited Dallas to meet some
          of his troops in an attempt to boost morale. His message: I'm here
          to listen -- ask me anything. But when a salesman requested
          elaboration of the company's software strategy, which he called
          "unclear," Mr. Lucente shot back that he was "sick of answering this
          question," according to one attendee. Mr. Lucente then "took his
          head off, belittling him in front of the whole room. Needless to
          say, no one else asked anything."
             So Digital turned to the 53-year-old Mr. Pesatori, effectively
          making him second in command. Under the direction of Mr. Pesatori, a
          former senior executive of Ing. C. Olivetti and Zenith Data Systems,
          Digital has jumped from also-ran to one of the top 10 PC makers,
          with more than $1 billion in sales last year. The unit recently
          turned profitable, and its sales continue to grow at more than a
          100% annual rate, executives say.
             Indeed, the PC unit is poised to overtake Dell Computer Corp. in
          sales. It will bring in higher revenue in the current quarter than
          Dell posted in its just-reported fiscal fourth quarter, insiders
          say.
             More important, the Italian-born Mr. Pesatori's unit, which is
          battling in a brutally competitive market, has succeeded in building
          a structure that Digital now hopes to establish on a broader scale.
          The unit has become profitable by selling machines through retail
          and other indirect channels, not through Digital's traditional and
          costly direct-sales approach.
             "Enrico clearly understands the direction the business has to
          go," says Jay P. Stevens, an analyst at Dean Witter. "He's shown he
          knows how to make a low-margin, volume-driven business profitable."
          Mr. Stevens notes that Digital has said it hopes to redirect its
          sales model so that about 60% of its business flows through indirect
          channels, with the rest through the direct sales force. As it now
          stands, that ratio is 75% direct sales to only 25% indirect.
             As for Mr. Lucente, Digital announced that he will become
          executive in residence at one of the graduate schools of Carnegie
          Mellon University, his alma mater.
             The latest events are a bitter turn for Mr. Lucente. He has been
          in the upper echelon at three companies now, but always missed the
          brass ring. Barely a year ago, Digital hired him with hopes he would
          tighten and professionalize its sales force.
             Mr. Lucente spent 31 years at IBM, and was seen as one of a
          handful of candidates for the top job before leaving in 1991 for
          Northern Telecom Ltd., where he was the second-ranking executive. He
          resigned early last year.
             At IBM, one of Mr. Lucente's assignments was to turn technicians,
          office workers and manufacturing workers into salespeople. It was a
          difficult and unpopular task.
             When he was hired by Digital, many analysts applauded, predicting
          cost-cutting and more aggressive sales incentives would improve
          overall results. At the time he announced Mr. Lucente's hiring, Mr.
          Palmer said: "I don't think I've interviewed so many people for any
          one position . . . it took a while, but I'm confident that we now
          have the right person."
             Now, the departure of his hand-picked lieutenant reflects badly
          on Mr. Palmer. And it has heightened the pressure on him to produce
          results. An executive close to Mr. Palmer denied last night,
          however, that he had been given an explicit performance deadline by
          the board.
             "They didn't put a time clock on this," he said. "But there isn't
          a CEO in America anymore who isn't on trial every day."

          
                                DEC's Directors

             -- Robert B. Palmer, president and chief executive of company.

             -- Vernon R. Alden, former chairman, the Boston Co.

             -- Philip Caldwell, senior managing director of Lehman Brothers,
          	retired chairman of Ford.

             -- Colby H. Chandler, retired chairman of Eastman Kodak.

             -- Arnaud de Vitry, engineering consultant.

             -- Robert R. Everett, retired president of Mitre Corp.

             -- Kathleen F. Feldstein, president of Economics Studies Inc.

             -- Thomas P. Gerrity, dean, Wharton School of the Univ. of
          	Pennsylvania.

             -- Thomas L. Phillips, retired chairman of Raytheon.

             -- Delbert C. Staley, retired chairman of Nynex.
             

    re:  .21
    
    Lucente did not create the disconnect between all the strategies.  His
    style was not to sweep those differences under the rug, as is often
    done here.
    
    Lucente's departure will not solve the problems.  It will, at best,
    make some people feel better for a short time.

re Note 3024.27 by ANGLIN::ROGERS:

>     Lucente's departure will not solve the problems.  It will, at best,
>     make some people feel better for a short time.
  
        Agreed -- it is really a return to square one (or perhaps
        two?) on the road to recovery, with much less remaining time
        to succeed.

        Bob

    It is rare when, in a company this size, some individual's departure
    solves significant problems.  Mr. Lucente's departure is not likely to
    solve anything.  What we ALL do is far more important.  Unfortunately,
    we ALL don't agree on what the right thing to do is.  I, for one, look
    forward to Mr. Pessatore's leadership.  If he won't lead, then perhaps
    we'll ALL go the way of Mr. L.

    re: .19
    
    I just read your note and flipped!!!
    
    Bob and I used to work together a few years back, what a guy -
    excellent!
    
    I have a call into Bob right now to find out what's going on.
    
    But I'm pretty sure it's true!  *8^(
    
    
    /Kristin

        Re:        <<< Note 3024.26 by NOVA::R_ANDERSON "My timing is Digital." >>>
        
>           Indeed, Digital's engineering-driven culture had long placed
>          sales and marketing in the back seat. At a 1990 exposition of the
>          company's products, for instance, a special area was set up to show
>          customers some of the hottest products the company still had in the
>          development laboratories. But the night before, while the exhibit
>          was being set up, salespeople who needed a preview were barred from
>          the area; the show's manager erected a wall of large potted plants
>          to keep them from seeing what was inside.

        This is the Innovation Showcase, which I ran. The truth is that
        the weekends were used for Sales Training and Sales Management
        decided that the "new stuff" wasn't necessary. I personally put
        the potted plants up to prevent roving sales reps from destroying
        the equipment before customers had a chance to see it. I spent
        one weekend on the floor throwing reps out of the area, including
        catching one red-handed who had just broken one of our displays.
        He had the broken piece in his hand! So now I'm responsible for
        the downfall of the company - and I thought I was one of the good
        guys!

        Anker
        

    Anker:
    
    You should know better than to let a potted plant do your dirty wortk
    for ya!

>        This is the Innovation Showcase, which I ran. The truth is that
>        the weekends were used for Sales Training and Sales Management
>        decided that the "new stuff" wasn't necessary. I personally put
>        the potted plants up to prevent roving sales reps from destroying
>        the equipment before customers had a chance to see it. I spent
>        one weekend on the floor throwing reps out of the area...

Perhaps I'm missing something.  Sales management decides your stuff isn't
necessary, but some entrepreneural sales reps decide otherwise.  Despite
the fact that the weekends are set aside for sales training, you prevent
these reps from looking at your stuff because they might break it.  Why
not provide some hand-holding so they can learn about your stuff *without*
breaking it?

    
    Perhaps Anker was in charge of the show and was not an expert on using
    the equipment.
    
    
    Mike

    
>Perhaps I'm missing something.  Sales management decides your stuff isn't
>necessary, but some entrepreneural sales reps decide otherwise.  Despite
>the fact that the weekends are set aside for sales training, you prevent
>these reps from looking at your stuff because they might break it.  Why
>not provide some hand-holding so they can learn about your stuff *without*
>breaking it?

    Do you have any idea what sort of hours people put in on DECWORLD?
    The people working setup for DECWORLD put in very long hours. Staying until
    1-2 in the morning, catching a few hours of sleep and returning by 6-7
    for the next day's work. During the show it wasn't much better. I know
    that I found out the hard way that the T shuts down during the night
    at least once. (Unbelievable for a New Yorker like myself)

    Most people were burnt out by the week end. There were no extra people
    to cover the week ends. Most people put in 40 hours by Tuesday for
    pete sake! Letting non technical people "play" with new and sometimes
    frail equipment would have been irresponsible. If trainers had been
    there - fine - let them teach. But not Joe random people with out a 
    clue. Perhaps you should vent your anger at the people who are
    responsible for the decision not to fund baby sitters and not at the
    people trying to keep the demos going. Or do you think it would have
    been a good thing to let untrained non technical people break the
    equipment so that demos to customers didn't take place?

    			Alfred

    Hey, don't get excited.  Newspaper columnists love this stuff (inside
    looks) because it's factual and it leads the reader to conclusions that
    the writer fancies.
    
    Mark

        .-2 is  right,  I  was the manager of the Innovation Showcase and
        wasn't able to  give  the  demonstrations,  also,  the  reps were
        supposed to be somewhere else, getting the training that had been
        scheduled.    Finally,  they  know    whet   was  in  there  from
        descriptions that has been sent out beforehand.
        
        I was just trying to be funny,  I  don't  believe  any  reps felt
        deprived, and I have no clue where the WSJ got the story from!
        
        Anker

>>                    <<< Note 3024.19 by SWAM1::MCCLURE_PA >>>
>>                            -< Russel gone too ??? >-

>>    Bob Russell resigned ??? I heard just 15 minutes ago that he's still
>>    around, and scheduled a concall with his marketing organization
>>    tomorrow.  Please verify or give my reference to something in writing ? 
>>    These rumors are starting to drive me nuts !!!!!  Is anyone left in
>>    management or was it a clean sweep ???
  

A memo I saw from Russ Gullotti has oficially confirmed this.  

    re -1
    
    What did Russ's memo confirm?  His resignation or the con call?
    

    His resignation is confirmed

>>                     <<< Note 3024.39 by ICS::DONNELLAN >>>
>>                                    -< ?? >-

>>    re -1
    
>>    What did Russ's memo confirm?  His resignation or the con call?
  
The resignation.  

Not having seen a "public" announcement on Russell yet, I wonder if the SLT
is trying to keep things under wraps so as not to create the impression of
a mass executive exodus in the sales and marketing ranks.

re: .42

I received a mail message yesterday or today concerning his leaving.

Bob

Ed Kamins, VP US Channels/SME, also resigned.

    'ed count reduced by 2 this week alone...
    
    ed

    more than that in the field...

    
    Just got word that Ralph Christensen has left digital (VP of Human
    resources?)

    re: -.1
    
    must have disagreed with the "cut our way to profits" mentality...

    but we just added a new VP in Human Resources...VP of Training &
    Learning I think...Hope Greenfield (sorry if I got her new title
    wrong).
    
    Mark
    

    Below Lucente's departure notice in the Globe and Mail ( reprint of the
    Wall St. Journal Article) "Northern Telecom Posts Surprise Profit".
    Coincidence? The Globe had published a scathing article on Paul Stern
    and Ed Lucente about a month before/after (can't remember which) Ed
    joined Digital. Coincidence? 
    
    This is scary stuff.
    
    Joseph
    
    ps.The Globe is Canada's national newspaper

    Incase you've lost track of our old friend...
    =====================================================
    
    Lucente Named To CompuServe Board of Directors 
    
    
    SOURCE: PR Newswire 
    
    DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 
    
    
    COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ via Individual Inc. -- CompuServe
    Corporation (Nasdaq: CSRV)
    today announced that Edward E. Lucente, 57, has been elected to the
    company's board of directors. Lucente, who
    has worked 36 years in the computing and telecommunications industries,
    is currently serving on an interim basis as
    president and chief executive officer of Liant Software Corporation in
    Framingham, Mass., where he is also a
    member of the board of directors. 
    
    Prior to his work at Liant, Lucente was an executive-in-residence at
    Carnegie Mellon University Graduate School
    of Industrial Administration in Pittsburgh. He also served as vice
    president of worldwide sales and marketing at
    Digital Equipment Corporation in Maynard, Mass., and as executive vice
    president of worldwide sales and
    marketing for Northern Telecom Limited in Toronto. Previously Lucente
    spent 30 years at IBM Corporation
    where he held several senior executive positions, including IBM vice
    president and group executive of U.S. sales
    and marketing, and president, IBM Asia Pacific, in Tokyo. 
    
    "Ed has a strong technology background with several industry leaders,
    and his expertise will be a valuable addition
    to the board," said Frank L. Salizzoni, CompuServe's chairman. "He has
    successfully led these companies through
    highly aggressive and competitive markets, and Ed's experience will
    help the board better position CompuServe in
    today's volatile online environment." 
    
    In addition to his current board positions, Lucente is a member of the
    board of directors of Hypres Corporation,
    Elmsford, N.Y.; Information Resources, Inc., Chicago; and GENICOM
    Corporation, Chantilly, Va. He is a
    lifetime trustee of Carnegie Mellon University and also a member of the
    school's business advisory council for the
    Graduate School of Industrial Administration. He is a member of the
    U.S.-Japan Business Council. 
    
    Lucente received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from
    Carnegie Mellon University and also
    attended Kellogg Graduate School of Business in Chicago and the Aspen
    Institute for Humanities, Aspen, Colo. A
    resident of Sanibel Island, Fla., he and his wife, Helaine, have six
    children. 
    
    Founded in 1969, CompuServe provides the world's most comprehensive
    online/Internet access through its three
    brands -- CompuServe, WOW! and SPRYNET. Through CompuServe, its
    Japanese licensee NIFTY-Serve and
    its affiliates around the world, more than 5 million home and business
    users in more than 185 countries are
    connected online and to the Internet. CompuServe Network Services
    manages complex global data
    communication environments for more than 1,000 corporate customers.
    With world headquarters in Columbus,
    Ohio, CompuServe's offices include European centers in London, Munich,
    Amsterdam, Zurich and Paris. 
    
    SOURCE CompuServe Corporation 
    
    /CONTACT: Gail Whitcomb of CompuServe, 614-538-4457/ (CSRV) 
    
    [10-30-96 at 09:35 EST, PR Newswire, File: p1030093.401] 
    

Maybe now is the time to buy AOL stock..

    CompuServe CEO Massey Resigns
    
                              Monday, February 17, 1997; 3:01 p.m. EST 
    
                              COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Robert J. Massey,
    president and chief executive officer of the
                              CompuServe computer online service, resigned
    suddenly today. 
    
                              A written statement from CompuServe's parent,
    H&R Block Inc., said Massey quit to
                              pursue other interests. 
    
                              Company spokesman Steve Conway said the
    resignation had nothing to do with
                              CompuServe's recent financial troubles.
    Conway said Massey was unavailable for comment.
    
                              The company, the nation's second largest
    online service provider with 3.3 million customers,
                              reported a $58 million loss in the quarter
    ended Oct. 31. It also shut down its family oriented
                              WOW! service Jan. 31, saying it would center
    its marketing to businesses. 
    
                              ``Our goal remains a speedy and sustained
    turnaround at CompuServe and under Bob's
                              leadership, the company has made progress in
    that direction,'' CompuServe Chairman Frank
                              L. Salizzoni said in the statement today. 
    
                              Salizzoni, who also is chief executive of H&R
    Block, will assume Massey's duties on an
                              interim basis while the company looks for a
    successor. He will divide his time between
                              CompuServe and his work at H&R Block, the
    company said. 
    
                              Kansas City, Mo.-based H&R Block owns about
    80 percent of CompuServe. 
    
                              Massey, 50, joined CompuServe in 1976 and
    became chief executive in June 1995. 
    
                                                 � Copyright 1997 The
    Associated Press