Michael Capellas
Michael David Capellas (born
August 19,
1955 in
Warren,
Ohio) was the Chairman and CEO of
MCI until it was acquired by Verizon, and became Verizon Business, and formerly of
Compaq. He left Compaq shortly after it merged with
HP.
Capellas says he inherited his gritty determination from his father, a
Greek citizen who fought with the
U.S. Army to push the
Germans out of
Italy in
World War II. After the war, the elder Capellas met and married his wife, Juliet, in
Italy. The family move to
Ohio where Capellas' Greek immigrant father had 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 fell in love with 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 crisscrossed the globe as Capellas climbed the ranks of each company he joined.
Capellas held 22 different jobs at six companies and then joining
Compaq as its chief information officer. Within one year into his turnaround attempt at
Compaq the company was stabilizing. Capellas had reorganized the company to make it more nimble, slashed expenses, increased online sales from $1 million to $6 million per day, and rekindled innovation. In the second quarter, revenues grew 7.5%, to $10.13 billionwith
Japan growing at a blistering 40% and
Latin America up 29%. The company earned $387 million, compared with a $184 million loss in the quarter a year earlier.[
1]
In
July 30,
1999, Capellas helped in smoothing over the
Microsoft and
Compaq relationship which had soured over the years. His driving force resulted in Compaq's becoming Microsoft's key strategic partner for the release of its
Windows 2000 operating system.
In
December 2002 Capellas became President and CEO of
MCI, prior to joining MCI he was president of
Hewlett-Packard Company.
*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 on a golf course in a suburb of
Houston *They have two daughter: Julie and Andrea
*Capellas is of
Greek (father) and
Italian (mother) descent
*
MCI Resume*
Forbes Article
