Intel Corp. has promoted its chief financial officer and interim CEO, Robert Swan, to be the new permanent CEO, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based firm announced on Thursday.
Swan becomes the seventh CEO in Intel’s 50-year history, and is joining the board of directors as well. He was put in the role of interim CEO last July after former CEO Brian Krzanich resigned following an investigation involving both internal and external counsel that determined “a violation of Intel’s non-fraternization policy.” The relationship was described as consensual by Intel.
In an email to Intel employees, customers, and partners on his first day as permanent CEO, Swan outlines four critical imperatives that he’ll focus on as head honcho:
- Being bold and fearless. “Our ambitions have never been greater and we have a relatively small share of the largest addressable market in Intel’s history.”
- Not change the core strategy. “We are evolving from a PC-centric to a data-centric company that builds the technology foundation powering the world’s innovations.”
- Improve execution. “Our customers are counting on us.”
- Evolve company culture. “The culture must honor truth and transparency, customer-obsession, and coming together as ‘One Intel.'”
“As Intel continues to transform its business to capture more of a large and expanding opportunity that includes the data center, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving, while continuing to get value from the PC business, the board concluded after a thorough search that Bob is the right leader to drive Intel into its next era of growth,” said Chairman Andy Bryant in a statement. “The search committee conducted a comprehensive evaluation of a wide range of internal and external candidates to identify the right leader at this critical juncture in Intel’s evolution. We considered many outstanding executives and we concluded the best choice is Bob. Important in the board’s decision was the outstanding job Bob did as interim CEO for the past seven months, as reflected in Intel’s outstanding results in 2018.”
Prior to working with Intel, Swan was the operating partner at General Atlantic LLC, spent nine years as the chief financial officer at eBay Inc., and was also in that role at Electronic Data Systems Corp.
