The grapevine hears ex-Tandem Computers Inc chief executive Roel Pieper could be heading back to a European IT company, possibly Phillips Electronics NV. Dutchman Pieper’s brief tenure as SVP and general manager worldwide sales, marketing, service and support at Compaq Computer Corp lasted from September until the New Year after selling Tandem to Compaq for $3bn in June (CI No 3,088). He was reportedly approached about the Apple Computer Inc CEO job (CI No 3,324) – who hasn’t at this point – but would supposedly prefer to go to Phillips. Pieper, former chief of AT&T’s Unix software business became chief executive of UB Networks when AT&T sold Unix to Novell Inc. Pieper spent ten years at Software AG in Germany and the US as CTO. Philips didn’t comment.
á
