Intel President James to Exit Amid Management Shakeup

Intel (INTC) president Renee James, a 28-year company veteran, the chip maker’s highest ranking woman ever and one of the most prominent female executives in Silicon Valley, will depart at the end of the year to pursue a chief executive job elsewhere.

James, part of a two-person leadership team along with chief executive Brian Krzanich, told Intel’s board that she will stay for the next six months to help with the transition.

“Over the past 28 years, Renée has contributed immeasurably to Intel,” Krzanich said. “On behalf of the Board and management team, we sincerely thank Renée for her tireless efforts toward building the business that we have today, and we fully support her in this decision.”

James’ exit wasn’t the only high-profile change for Intel amid an executive and structural shakeup that Krzanich positioned as streamlining operations to help the chip maker move faster in the market.

“We are aligning our leadership structure to continue to become more efficient in order to deliver the benefits of our strategy even faster than before,” said Krzanich.

Hermann Eul, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of the Mobile and Communications Group who joined the company four years ago, and Mike Bell, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of the New Devices Group, also will leave, Krzanich said.

Josh Walden, Intel New Technology Group general manager, will take over all product and research teams related to new technology categories, including wearables and interactive computing devices, Intel said.

In addition, veteran Intel Capital boss Arvind Sodhani said he plans to retire in January. Wendell Brooks, Intel mergers and acquisitions president, will additionally assume Sodhani’s duties, Intel said.

Earlier this week Intel officially folded its security operation, which had operated independently since acquiring McAfee for $7.6 billion in 2010, into its corporate umbrella under the direction of general manager Chris Young.

And in yet another change, Aicha Evans, Intel Intel Communication and Devices Group general manager, now is part of the chip maker’s Management Committee.

“We are aligning our leadership structure to continue to become more efficient in order to deliver the benefits of our strategy even faster than before,” said Krzanich.

Two weeks ago, Intel laid off an undisclosed number of “lower performing” employees in a cost-cutting move tied to the company’s recently pared financial expectations and weakened Q1 performance. The cuts were related to the chip maker’s announcement in April to cut some $300 million from its administrative and research budget.

In a letter to fired workers, Intel said it has “decided to reduce spending in the second half of 2015.”

Intel recorded Q1 2015 net income of $2 billion, earnings per share (EPS) of $0.41, and flat revenue of $12.8 billion, matching the lowered outlook the chip maker issued a month ago when it pared its earlier sales projections by $1 billion citing weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs.