Former Acer CEO Hired By Lenovo As Consultant

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Former Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci is now serving as a consultant for Lenovo, overseeing the integration of German technology company Medion AG.

Friday Lenovo said that former Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci is now serving as a consultant to help develop and accelerate Lenovo’s worldwide consumer business. The news arrives after Lanci stepped down from his position at Acer back in March after clashing with board members over the company's roadmap.

"On the company's future development, Lanci held different views from a majority of the board members, and could not reach a consensus following several months' of dialog," Acer said in a press release. "They placed different levels of importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation."

Lanci became president of the company in 2005 and then took the CEO position in 2008 while retaining his previous title. He was notably in control of the company when it overtook Dell as the world’s second-largest maker of PCs in 2009. Acknowledging this, the company expressed its true appreciation for his contributions to its recent success upon his departure, wishing him "all the best in his future endeavors."

Now Lanci's primary focus will be on the integration of German technology company Medion AG which was acquired by Lenovo in July to significantly enhance its consumer presence, channels and capabilities in Western Europe. Lanci will be based in Italy and will work closely with Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang and the rest of Lenovo’s senior leadership team.

"As a consultant to us, Gianfranco brings years of expertise and insights to Lenovo that will help us strengthen our growing global consumer business," Yang said. "Talented people are joining Lenovo because of our commitment to the PC industry, outstanding momentum and optimism about the future. We will continue to strengthen our company by building the best global team in the industry."

Lenovo has been the fastest growing major PC manufacturer for seven straight quarters. The company recently announced its first quarter earnings, including record global market share (12.2 percent), record quarterly unit sales (more than 10 million units) and gains in virtually every region and product segment, while almost doubling profits year-to-year.

Kevin Parrish
5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • aftcomet
    Interesting. You'd think he'd have signed something that prevents him from working for a competitor.
    Reply
  • alikum
    aftcometInteresting. You'd think he'd have signed something that prevents him from working for a competitor.Perhaps he signed something that prevents him from working in the same position for your competitor. Hence he's not a consultant since he's not there for the post of CEO. Then again, he was CEO. He probably got away by not signing.
    Reply
  • alyoshka
    Yup, he would have the NDA's all signed up , but, this is not Apple right. Between Acer and Lenovo, I really doubt there will be any halabaloo over this chap. None of these companies are as paranoid as Apple and HP.
    Reply
  • This is great news for Medion! I have used several of their products, nad have never had a single problem with them! I have also got several customers with Medion Computers, which have never gone wrong( Unlike ht e Dells I have repaired for them)

    Lenovo are seriously becoming my NO 1 choice for decent hardworking quality!

    And finally, if you are near a Lidl, get in there and see if they have any Medion 8GB usb Flash Drives, costs £8 and runs well over 30MB/s whilst being completely housed by sleek aluminum housing, very nice!
    Reply
  • seezur
    alyoshkaYup, he would have the NDA's all signed up , but, this is not Apple right. Between Acer and Lenovo, I really doubt there will be any halabaloo over this chap. None of these companies are as paranoid as Apple and HP.
    Yeah, Non-compete and NDA's only go so far, they would have to prove somehow that his unique knowledge of Acer's inner-workings would be put to use at Lenovo, and since he is only being listed as a consultant for a particular deal, which its a stretch.

    Besides the guys that operate at this level are only concerned with numbers, not technology so he most likely knows nothing of experimental products Acer has anyway (technical knowledge that is, I'm sure he knew the names and what the product cost to produce).
    Reply