Michael David Capellas (born August 19, 1954) is an American executive in the computer and telecommunication industries. Capellas served as chairman and CEO of First Data Corporation, acting CEO of Serena Software, chairman and CEO of

Compaq Computer Corporation Compaq Computer Corporation was an American information technology, information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compati ...

until its merger with Hewlett-Packard where he became president of the post-merger company briefly, and president and CEO of

WorldCom MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunicatio ...

(later MCI) where he led its merger with Verizon.

Early years

Capellas claims that he inherited a gritty determination from his father, a Greek citizen who fought with the Greek Army against the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, the elder Capellas met and married his wife, Juliet, in Italy. The family then emigrated to

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

where Capellas' father worked his way up from laborer to superintendent at the Republic Steel Corp. ''My dad had an unbelievable work ethic. He was intensely loyal to the company. He worked there for 30 years,'' says Capellas. As an undergraduate at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

, Capellas developed an interest in computers. Shortly after he graduated with a BBA from Kent State, Capellas met his future wife, Marie Angelillo, a former nurse. The two married in 1979, and for the next 20 years they traveled around the world as Capellas climbed the ranks of each company he joined.

Business

Capellas began his career at Republic Steel. He went on to hold senior executive roles at Schlumberger, Benchmarking Partners, SAP, and

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...

. Capellas joined

as CIO in 1998. In 1999, when president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) Eckhard Pfeiffer was forced to resign after a boardroom coup led by chairman Benjamin M. Rosen, Rosen took on the capacity of interim CEO while Capellas was elevated to COO. Several months later, Capellas became permanent CEO and Chairman of Compaq. As chairman and CEO of Compaq between 1999 and 2001, Capellas helped repair the relationship between

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

and Compaq, which had eroded over the years. His efforts resulted in Compaq becoming Microsoft's key strategic partner for the release of its

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, targeting the server and business markets. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RT ...

operating system. In 2001, Capellas led Compaq into an acquisition by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

, but the deal was delayed for eight months because of a proxy and boardroom battle within HP. Finally, on May 3, 2002, Hewlett-Packard announced approval of the acquisition and Capellas became president of the post-merger Hewlett-Packard, under CEO

Carly Fiorina Cara Carleton "Carly" Fiorina (; ; born September 6, 1954) is an American businesswoman and politician, known primarily for her tenure as chief executive officer (CEO) of Hewlett-Packard (HP) from 1999 to 2005. Fiorina was the first woman to le ...

, to ease the integration of the two companies. However, Capellas was reported not to be happy with his role, being said not to be utilized and being unlikely to become CEO as the board supported Fiorina. Capellas stepped down on November 12, 2002, just six months on the job. His former role of president was not filled as the executives who reported to him then reported directly to the CEO. In December 2002, Capellas became the turnaround president and CEO of

(later MCI). He led a successful restructuring of the organization, one of the largest in corporate history, and stepped down as CEO after MCI's merger with Verizon in 2006. In December 2006, Capellas was appointed acting CEO of Serena Software, selected by Silver Lake Partners, the company that took Serena private in March 2006 and where Capellas served as a senior advisor. On July 10, 2007, Capellas was identified as the new CEO of First Data Corporation. The position was to become effective upon the completion of the

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

(LBO) of First Data by private equity firm

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...

. In 2010 it was announced he would be chairman and CEO of VCE, a joint venture of

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

and EMC Corporation with investment from

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

and VMware that specializes in

cloud computing Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

. In July 2012 a new president and CEO of VCE replaced Capellas. Capellas is on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

for Cisco, and was on the national board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. In 2001, Capellas was inducted into the

Warren, Ohio Warren is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Mahoning River, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown, Ohio, Y ...

Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.Warren Alumni Hall of Fame
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Capellas, Michael 1955 births American computer businesspeople American people of Greek descent American people of Italian descent Kent State University alumni Living people People from Warren, Ohio Businesspeople from Houston Warren G. Harding High School alumni