Paul Allaire
Encyclopedia
Paul Arthur Allaire is a businessman who served as CEO and Chairman of Xerox
Corporation, and as a director on several other public companies.
He was first hired by Xerox in 1966.
Allaire was named CEO in 1990, succeeding David T. Kearns
who retired at the mandatory age limit of 60. Allaire was elected as the company's chairman on May 29, 1991, after Kearns accepted an appointement as Secretary of Education in the administration of President George H. W. Bush
.
Allaire transformed the office of the president into a newly formed corporate office, with four executives dividing the responsibilities that usually fall under the president and chief operating officer. The group shared operational responsibilities for Xerox's nine worldwide business units and three worldwide geographic customer operations units. One of these four key officials was A. Barry Rand, executive vice president of operations, and one of the highest-ranking African-Americans in business at the time.
When Allaire became CEO, Xerox had billions of dollars in insurance liabilities, so he methodically disentangled the company from property and casualty insurance and other financial-services businesses. Allaire also rolled out cost-cutting and new product technology introductions, including the first digital copier-Document Center. In 1994, Allaire rebranded Xerox as "The Document Company" to signal its ambition to move far beyond copiers, as the growth of desktop computing stimulated huge increases in the number of documents being created. Under Allaire's "Leadership through Quality" program, Xerox was the first U.S. company to won back lost market share from the Japanese.
In 1997, Allaire hired G. Richard "Rick" Thoman from IBM as Xerox President and COO which positioned Thoman as the eventual successor, and this news caused the company shares to rise $2 (2.9%) to $71.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, after earlier touching a record $73.25. A protege of Lou Gerstner, Thoman was serving as Senior Vice President and CFO of IBM, and before that as Senior Vice President and general manager of IBM's Personal Systems Group which he led a successful turnaround. In April 1999 at the company annual meeting, Allaire was succeeded as CEO by Thoman but remained chairman of the board; Allaire had intended to retire but the board convinced him to stay on since Thoman was an outsider. As a nod to CFO Barry D. Romeril and William F. Buehler, who were Allaire loyalists that were ending up passed over in the succession planning, Allaire requested that they be given seats on the board as vice-chairman.
Allaire and Thoman both shared the vision that Xerox needed to reinvent itself to succeed in the Digital Age, and Thoman's record of working with Gerstner in IBM's turnaround made him the ideal person to lead the transformation. However, it has been reported that many of Xerox's senior executives including Romeril and Buehler remained loyal to Allaire and viewed Thoman as an outsider. These undercut Thoman's authority as CEO, as he was only able to make a few senior mangement changes, and the entrenched bureaucracy as Xerox (nicknamed "Burox") provided passive resistance to Thoman's initiatives. This in turn may have contributed to several botched reorganizations under his tenure.
After Thoman was fired in 2000, Allaire was once again appointed CEO, and he promoted Anne M. Mulcahy
to President and COO. Allaire retired as CEO on August 1, 2001, being succeeded by Mulcahy. Allaire remained chairman of the board until the end of 2001.
After leaving Xerox, Allaire became the chairman of GlaxoSmithKline
's remuneration committee where he remained until his retirement in 2003, which was forced as part of a settlement with the SEC.
Allaire, Thoman, Romecil, and three other senior Xerox executives paid the SEC $22 million to settle accusations by securities regulators that they participated in a large accounting fraud
that allowed the company to overstate its profits by $1.4 billion from 1997 to 2000. As the "Xerox six" were not found guilty of wrongdoing, Xerox said that it would reimburse the executives for all but $3 million of the $22 million and cover their legal fees. The $3 million was classified as a fine by the SEC and cannot be reimbursed under its rules.
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
Corporation, and as a director on several other public companies.
He was first hired by Xerox in 1966.
Allaire was named CEO in 1990, succeeding David T. Kearns
David T. Kearns
David Todd Kearns was an American businessman who was CEO of Xerox Corporation and Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education . He died on the 25th of February, 2011.-Early life:...
who retired at the mandatory age limit of 60. Allaire was elected as the company's chairman on May 29, 1991, after Kearns accepted an appointement as Secretary of Education in the administration of President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
.
Allaire transformed the office of the president into a newly formed corporate office, with four executives dividing the responsibilities that usually fall under the president and chief operating officer. The group shared operational responsibilities for Xerox's nine worldwide business units and three worldwide geographic customer operations units. One of these four key officials was A. Barry Rand, executive vice president of operations, and one of the highest-ranking African-Americans in business at the time.
When Allaire became CEO, Xerox had billions of dollars in insurance liabilities, so he methodically disentangled the company from property and casualty insurance and other financial-services businesses. Allaire also rolled out cost-cutting and new product technology introductions, including the first digital copier-Document Center. In 1994, Allaire rebranded Xerox as "The Document Company" to signal its ambition to move far beyond copiers, as the growth of desktop computing stimulated huge increases in the number of documents being created. Under Allaire's "Leadership through Quality" program, Xerox was the first U.S. company to won back lost market share from the Japanese.
In 1997, Allaire hired G. Richard "Rick" Thoman from IBM as Xerox President and COO which positioned Thoman as the eventual successor, and this news caused the company shares to rise $2 (2.9%) to $71.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, after earlier touching a record $73.25. A protege of Lou Gerstner, Thoman was serving as Senior Vice President and CFO of IBM, and before that as Senior Vice President and general manager of IBM's Personal Systems Group which he led a successful turnaround. In April 1999 at the company annual meeting, Allaire was succeeded as CEO by Thoman but remained chairman of the board; Allaire had intended to retire but the board convinced him to stay on since Thoman was an outsider. As a nod to CFO Barry D. Romeril and William F. Buehler, who were Allaire loyalists that were ending up passed over in the succession planning, Allaire requested that they be given seats on the board as vice-chairman.
Allaire and Thoman both shared the vision that Xerox needed to reinvent itself to succeed in the Digital Age, and Thoman's record of working with Gerstner in IBM's turnaround made him the ideal person to lead the transformation. However, it has been reported that many of Xerox's senior executives including Romeril and Buehler remained loyal to Allaire and viewed Thoman as an outsider. These undercut Thoman's authority as CEO, as he was only able to make a few senior mangement changes, and the entrenched bureaucracy as Xerox (nicknamed "Burox") provided passive resistance to Thoman's initiatives. This in turn may have contributed to several botched reorganizations under his tenure.
After Thoman was fired in 2000, Allaire was once again appointed CEO, and he promoted Anne M. Mulcahy
Anne M. Mulcahy
Anne M. Mulcahy is former chairwoman and CEO of Xerox Corporation. She was named CEO of Xerox on August 1, 2001, and chairwoman on January 1, 2002. In addition to serving on the Xerox board, she has been a member of the boards of directors of Catalyst, Citigroup Inc., Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd...
to President and COO. Allaire retired as CEO on August 1, 2001, being succeeded by Mulcahy. Allaire remained chairman of the board until the end of 2001.
After leaving Xerox, Allaire became the chairman of GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
's remuneration committee where he remained until his retirement in 2003, which was forced as part of a settlement with the SEC.
Allaire, Thoman, Romecil, and three other senior Xerox executives paid the SEC $22 million to settle accusations by securities regulators that they participated in a large accounting fraud
Accounting scandals
Accounting scandals, or corporate accounting scandals, are political and business scandals which arise with the disclosure of misdeeds by trusted executives of large public corporations...
that allowed the company to overstate its profits by $1.4 billion from 1997 to 2000. As the "Xerox six" were not found guilty of wrongdoing, Xerox said that it would reimburse the executives for all but $3 million of the $22 million and cover their legal fees. The $3 million was classified as a fine by the SEC and cannot be reimbursed under its rules.