End of an Era: Last of Otellini’s Boys to Retire

The rumors are flying as people try to figure out what’s really going on at Intel with regard to the resignation of Stacy Smith, former CFO who was moved over to run manufacturing and sales earlier this year.

He says he’s retiring and looks forward to the next leg on his professional journey. But some say he’s tired of waiting for the CEO position. Either way, Smith is retiring from Intel at the end of January after 30 years with the firm.

Intel’s CFO Bob Swan has publicly discussed layoffs after referring to the company as being “Bloated” with too many “layers of people.”

“I want to thank Stacy for his leadership and his many outstanding contributions to Intel’s success,” CEO Brian Krzanich said in a company statement. “Stacy is a key pillar of our MCM team and a mentor and friend to so many at the company. His career at Intel has spanned every geography and many organizations—from head of EMEA sales and marketing, chief information officer, nine years as chief financial officer and, most recently, President of Manufacturing, Operations and Sales. Stacy helped guide Intel through the great recession as CFO and has been instrumental in helping to transform Intel from PC to data-centric. For me personally, Stacy has been an incredibly valued colleague, and I will miss him.”

But is that statement too ‘canned’ to be real? Things have not gone easy for the chipmaker over the last year and more than one observer refers to his leaving as “fallout” from Intel’s “corporate pyramid”.

Another media outlet said that “Intel’s executive ranks have been in near continuous flux since 2015,” with seven other executives leaving the high-tech firm.

Perhaps Smith didn’t agree with the direction the company is going in. Intel’s current CFO Bob Swan has publicly discussed layoffs after referring to the company as being “bloated” with too many “layers of people.”

Swan reportedly plans to make reductions. Perhaps Smith didn’t want to be part of the blood-letting.