Compaq picks UK marketing chief

Compaq UK & Ireland has appointed consumer business director Hamish Haynes as marketing director in a global realignment designed to restore the company’s performance.

Haynes will replace Vesey Crichton, who left to join Internet search engine Alta Vista. He will report to Joe McNally, managing director of Compaq UK & Ireland.

The global reorganisation was announced by Compaq’s new chief executive Michael Capellas last week. It is aimed at restoring the business’ growth and financial performance, after the US company announced profit warnings in the first and second quarter of this year.

Haynes, whose role is specifically to develop e-business, says: “We need to put Compaq back on the map. The strategy was right, but the area of weakness was execution. We were inwardly focused when everyone else was looking outward.

“Compaq will be non-stop e-business from now on. We want to achieve leadership in the Internet age.”

Haynes has been with Compaq since 1986 and has a career spanning 18 years in the IT industry. Previous Compaq roles have included consumer marketing manager, retail sales manager, regional manager and dealer sales manager.

The new structure at Compaq includes the establishment of specific customer focused groups. William Knocker will be e-commerce director, overseeing the new e-commerce division.

There will also be a new enterprise solutions and services group and a commercial personal computing group.

Jude Meadows, the first woman on Compaq’s board, replaces Haynes in the role of consumer business director. Haynes says he has no plans to review Compaq’s advertising account at BMP DDB.