CompuCom Names Board Chairman As CEO, Snags Lenovo Exec To Be EVP

CompuCom has changed CEOs for the third time in the past 21 months, tapping the executive chairman of its board to be its next leader.

The Dallas-based company, No. 23 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, revealed Thursday that Don Doctor will be the company's new CEO, taking over for interim CEO and longtime company executive Jim Dixon.

The $2.2 billion systems integrator also snagged a Lenovo regional president to lead its end-user enablement business unit.

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Doctor was CEO of data center maintenance company SMS for several years beginning in 2006. He joined CompuCom's board in May 2013 and ascended to the executive chairman position in August.

In a statement, Dixon praised Doctor for his alignment with CompuCom's culture and in-depth knowledge of the solution provider's business and strategy. He said Doctor was selected as CEO following a six-month search.

"Don has spent significant time getting to know CompuCom's associates and customers -- and understanding our opportunities and progress -- bringing us all to the same conclusion that he is the best-qualified candidate for the position," Dixon said in the statement.

CompuCom also named Dan Stone as a senior vice president and president of end-user enablement, which helps IT executives manage the convergence of social interaction, mobility, analytics, big data and cloud.

Stone has served since January 2014 as president and general manager of Lenovo Latin America, a $3 billion business division with 7,000 employees across 15 countries and two continents.

CompuCom's CEO position has been subject to much turbulence in recent years, with divisional CEO Tony Doye taking over for Dixon in May 2013. Dixon had served as CEO from 1987 to 1996 and again from 2004 until then.

But Doye left the company in August, prompting Dixon to step back into the CEO slot on an interim basis.

The company hopes Doctor will be the end to all that turnover.

NEXT: What Doctor And Stone Bring To The Table

At executive chairman and CEO of SMS, Doctor helped the company become a strategic leader in industry-delivered IT services with more than 1,250 employees and operations across North America, Europe and Asia.

SMS has been owned since 2010 by Thomas H. Lee. The same private equity firm bought CompuCom in April 2013, reportedly paying $1.1 billion for the company.

Prior to SMS, Doctor served as chairman and CEO of Encoda Systems, a provider of back-office solutions for the media industry with more than 1,000 staff globally. Doctor founded Premier Systems Integrators in 1991, which provided integrated information and communications technology and was eventually sold to Dimension Data.

Doctor was also a partner and vice president at Spectrum Associates and held several roles at Lincoln National Corp.

Stone had served in a variety of roles at Lenovo since April 2007, including chief strategy officer, where he developed and implemented strategy for the China-based company's technology investments, partnerships and alliances, and post-merger management activities around the globe.

One of the first decisions facing Doctor and Stone will be what to do with Microsoft's software licensing business.

CRN reported last week that CompuCom was looking to sell the business and held acquisition-related talks with SoftwareONE, a $3.3 billion solution provider based in Milwaukee. Dixon declined to comment on the report at the time.

In November, sources told CRN that Microsoft was considering revoking CompuCom's licensing solution provider (LSP) status because the company wasn't meeting revenue targets or investing enough in technical certifications.

LSPs are the only Microsoft partners authorized to handle software volume licensing transactions; channel sources said there are approximately 15 in the United States.

Pam Baxter also is being promoted to chief information officer, where she will drive the strategy and operations for all services built and supported by CompuCom's information technology team. She has served as CompuCom's vice president of information technology since January 2009.

PUBLISHED FEB. 5, 2015