Peter Altabef was the president of Dell Services, a business unit of Dell Inc. From 2004, he was the president and CEO of Perot Systems

Perot Systems

Perot Systems was an information technology services provider founded in 1988 by a group of investors led by Ross Perot and based in Plano, Texas, United States. A Fortune 1000 corporation with offices in more than 25 countries, Perot Systems employed more than 23,000 people and had an annual...

 until its acquisition by Dell in November 2009.Peter has decided to step down as president of Dell services (formerly perot systems.) (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2011/01/13/former-perot-systems-ceo-leaves-dell.html)
Born in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, he received his bachelor's in economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 from Binghamton University

Binghamton University

Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...

, and a degree in law from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

. Despite his training in economics and law, he was considered something of an unlikely pick to replace Ross Perot, Jr., who was named executive chairman. The elder Ross Perot

Ross Perot

Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...

 was elevated to a position of chairman emeritus.

Previously he worked in the corporate security division of Hughes & Luce LLP, and developed close ties to all three of Perot Systems' former CEOs, including the man he considers his role model

Role model

The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...

, Morton Meyerson.

He is married to Jennifer Burr Altabef, who is a partner in a Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

law firm, and they have two children.