Lew Platt

Lewis Emmett Platt , called Lew Platt , (born April 11, 1941 in Johnson City , NY, † September 8, 2005 in Petaluma ) was an American executive and former president of Hewlett-Packard .

Life

Lew Platt graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca with a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1964 and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1966. Lew Platt also received an honorary degree in engineering from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

He worked for the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) from 1966 to 1999 , initially in an entry-level position as an engineer. He was named Executive Vice President in 1987. In 1992 he succeeded John A. Young in the position of CEO (Chief Executive Officer). In 1993 he even became Chairman of the Executive Committee at Hewlett-Packard, taking over from company founder David Packard . Under Platt's leadership, Agilent Technologies was spun off from HP. In 1999 he left the company, which from then on was headed by Carly Fiorina .

In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed Lew Platt to the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations , where he was Chairman of the World Trade Organization Task Force . Platt was also a member of the Business Council .

After leaving Hewlett-Packard, he managed a much smaller company, the Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, for two years (2000 to mid-2001) .

Until his death, Platt was a director (supervisory board) of the Boeing Company , an aircraft manufacturer, where he wanted to restore the independence of the board of directors as its chairman from December 2003 to July 2005 and the search for a successor for Philip Condit and Harry Stonecipher directed. Phil Condit left Boeing in December 2003 because of irregularities in the award of the contract to Boeing for the Pentagon. Henry Stonecipher resigned after an affair with a colleague. Platt has served on the Boeing Company's Board of Directors since 1999.

Lew Platt has won various awards, including the Catalyst Award for the promotion of women in management positions in 1991 and the top manager of the business magazine Business Week in 1995 .

Platt died on September 8, 2005 of a brain aneurysm in California, where he last lived. He leaves behind his wife Joan Ellen Redmund Platt and his four daughters Caryn, Laura, Amanda and Hillary.

Web links

• Biography of Lew Platt on the hp page (English)
• Lew Platt in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)