Another Top HP Exec LeavesAnother Top HP Exec Leaves

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. said Jeff Clarke, a former Compaq Computer Corp. executive who played a key role in the integration of HP and Compaq's business operations, has resigned from the computer maker.

Palo Alto-based HP said in a statement Tuesday that the departure of Clarke, former chief financial officer at Compaq, was "mutually agreed to and was appropriate."

Clarke's resignation is effective immediately. HP would not say whether it planned to replace him.

Clarke is the latest senior manager to depart HP, which has been restructuring business units and laying off thousands of workers in an 18-month effort to increase revenue and boost efficiency after its $19 billion acquisition of Compaq in May 2002.

Webb McKinney, who led the integration effort with Clarke, announced earlier this month that he would retire at year's end. Several executives in charge of other divisions will assume his responsibilities.

HP human resources leader Susan Bowick will also retire at the end of the year. Mary McDowell, senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, accepted a buyout package earlier this month, upon return from a sabbatical.

John A. Jackson, HP director of business continuity services, quit HP and fled to arch rival IBM Corp. in October. Mark Sorenson, a vice president in the storage software division and former Compaq executive, resigned this summer and joined Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC Corp., where he assumed the new position of senior vice president for information access and recovery software.

Michael Capellas, named chairman and chief executive of Compaq in 2000, resigned as president of HP a year ago. He become chief executive of MCI Group, then known as WorldCom Inc. Capellas stepped in after WorldCom chief executive Bernard Ebbers was forced out in April 2002.