Stephen J. Luczo

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Stephen J. Luczo

Nationality United States
Employers Seagate Technology
Title Chairman of the Board of Directors
Predecessor Alan Shugart
Successor incumbent

Stephen J. Luczo (also known as Steve Luczo) is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Seagate Technology.[1] He has also served on the Boards of Directors of Gadzoox Microsystems, Inc. (renamed Gadzoox Networks, Inc. in 1997, and acquired by Broadcom in 2003), Dragon Systems, Inc., Crystal Decisions, Inc. (formerly Seagate Software[2], acquired by Business Objects in 2003), and e2open.[3][4]

Contents

[edit] Business career

Steve Luczo holds a B.A., economics and psychology, and MBA from Stanford University.[5] He was the Senior Managing Director of the Global Technology Group of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., an investment banking firm, from February 1992 to October 1993.[6] He joined Seagate Technology in October 1993 as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development.[1] In March 1995, he was appointed Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Operating Officer of Seagate Software Holdings. In September 1997, he was promoted to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer of Seagate Technology, Inc. In 1997, Seagate experienced a downturn, along with the rest of the industry, and launched a restructuring effort. In July 1998, the CEO Alan Shugart was asked to resign and Luczo became the new Chief Executive Officer, joining the Board of Directors.[7]

Historically, Seagate's design centers had been organized around function, with one product line manager in charge of tracking the progress of all programs. In 1998, Luczo and CTO Tom Porter characterized the organizational redesign of design centers into core teams organized around individual projects, to meet the corporate objective of faster time to market.[8] As the CEO, Luczo decided to increase investment in technology, and to diversify into faster-growing, higher-margin businesses. In May 1999, Seagate sold its Network & Storage Management Group (NSMG) to VERITAS Software in return for 155 million shares of VERITAS's stock. With this deal, Seagate became the largest shareholder in VERITAS, with an ownership stake of more than 40%. However, the Seagate Board of Directors felt that the market was incredibly under pricing Seagate's stock, as was clear from a 200% increase in VERITAS stock versus only a 25% increase in Seagate's stock.[9]

Luczo believed that Seagate needed to make significant capital investments to achieve its goals. He decided to turn the company private, since disk drive producers had a hard time obtaining capital for long-term projects.[10] In early November 1999, Luzco met with representatives of Silver Lake Partners to discuss a major restructuring of Seagate. After two failed attempts to increase Seagate's stock price and unlock its value from VERITAS, Seagate's Board of Directors authorized Luzco to seek advice from Morgan Stanley in October 1999. In early November of 1999, Morgan Stanley arranged a meeting between Seagate executives and representatives of Silver Lake Partners.[10] On November 22, 2000, Seagate management, VERITAS Software, and an investor group led by Silver Lake closed a complex deal taking Seagate private in what was at the time the largest buyout ever of a technology company.[11][12]

Luczo became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Seagate Technology on June 19, 2002. In 2003, he accepted an invitation from the New York Stock Exchange to join its Listed Companies Advisory Committee.[13] When the company separated the roles of chairman and CEO in 2004, Luczo resigned as the Seagate CEO on July 3, 2004, but retained his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors.[1]

[edit] Personal life

Luczo is also a songwriter and one of the co-founders of Talking House Productions, a production company specializing in music and other audio arts programming.[14] He is also the founder of Balance Vector Productions, an international television and film production company based in California and operating throughout the world.[15]

Luczo is also an avid surfer, snowboarder and mountain biker and participates in these sports with world class athletes. His company, Balance Vector, has sponsored many World Championships and Pro level events such as the $75,000 purse for Maverick's Surf Contest in 2004.[16] He has also made numerous financial contribution to charities focused on at-risk children or environmental issues such as SurfAid International.[17] On March 19, 2007, Luczo made a $100,000 donation to the Wikimedia Foundation.[18][19]

In May, 2007 Luczo ran an entry in the Indianapolis 500 paired with Jay Penske co-owners of Luczo-Dragon Racing Ltd., their driver was Ryan Briscoe, sponsored by Symantec. Briscoe qualified 7th and finished in 5th position.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Board of Directors. Seagate Technology. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  2. ^ Seagate Software changes company name to Crystal Decisions (2001-03-05). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  3. ^ Seagate Software Inc. Item 10: Directors and Executive Officers. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  4. ^ Seagate Technology: Employees. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  5. ^ Patrick Seitz (2000-01-20). Seagate Drives Into New Gear In Evolution And Revolution. Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  6. ^ Stephen J Luczo: Profile. Forbes.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  7. ^ Dawn Kawamoto (1998-07-21). Seagate asks CEO to resign. CNET. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  8. ^ Phyllis Siegel (2001). Seagate Technology: A case (with teaching note) on the role of senior business leaders in driving work/life cultural change. The Wharton Work/Life Roundtable, A Division of the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  9. ^ Melissa Bockhold, Heather Coddington, Laura Duerstock, and Ali Wampler (2006-03-22). Seagate Technology Buyout (PDF). Franklin College. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  10. ^ a b Gregor Andrade, Todd Pulvino, Stuart C. Gilson (2002-03-12). "Seagate Technology Buyout". . Harvard Business School Publishing Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  11. ^ Investments Portfolio: Seagate. Silver Lake Partners. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  12. ^ Silver Lake Partners (2000-03-29). "Seagate, VERITAS Software and Investor Group Led by Silver Lake Partners Announce Landmark $19 Billion Transaction". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  13. ^ Seagate CEO Steve Luczo Joins NYSE Advisory Committee. Seagate Technology (2003-04-14). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  14. ^ Tom Kenny (2006-10-01). Talking House Productions. Mix Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  15. ^ Balance Vector Profile and Team. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  16. ^ Marcus Sanders (May 2004). The Boys Are Back In Town. Surfing Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  17. ^ Second Annual Liquid Nation Ball Raises More Than $240,000 for Surf Aid International. SurfAid International (2005-09-12). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  18. ^ Wikipedia Signpost: $100,000 donation to Wikimedia Foundation (2007-04-09). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  19. ^ Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund. Wikimedia Foundation (2007-03-19). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.

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