Michael David Capellas (born August 19, 1955 in Warren, Ohio) is on the Board of Directors for Cisco Systems and Senior Advisor for Silver Lake Partners. Capellas' earlier executive roles include chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of Compaq Computer Corporation between 1999 and 2001. Following the acquisition of Compaq by Hewlett-Packard Company, he remained as president of HP, with Carly Fiorina as CEO, for six months to ease the integration of the two companies. He then left HP to become CEO and chairman of MCI WorldCom between 2002 and 2006, presiding over the buyout of MCI by Verizon.
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Early years
Capellas says he inherited his gritty determination from his father, a Greek citizen who fought with the Greek Army against the Germans in Italy in World War II. After the war, the elder Capellas met and married his wife, Juliet, in Italy. The family then emigrated to Ohio 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, Capellas developed an interest in computers. Shortly after he graduated 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. In July 30, 1999, Capellas helped repair the relationship between Microsoft 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 operating system. In 2001, Capellas led Compaq into an acquisition by Hewlett-Packard, 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. In December 2002, Capellas became President and CEO of MCI. While CEO of WorldCom, he was inducted into the Warren City Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. [1] In December 2006, Capellas was appointed acting CEO of Serena Software, selected by Silver Lake, the company that took Serena private in March 2006. 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 buy out (LBO) of First Data by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which was expected before completion of the third quarter of 2007.
Trivia
- Michael and Marie learned to play golf a decade ago, and now she accompanies him on business trips that include a round of golf with customers.
- Capellases live in a stately brick house adjacent to a golf course in a suburb of Houston, Texas
- They have two daughters: Juliet and Andrea
- Capellas is of Greek (father) and Italian (mother) descent
- Capellas is blind in his left eye.[2]
