This article is more than 1 year old

Acer execs play musical chairs

Who's sitting down with thump?

Acer is shuffling the chairs on its exec deck with EMEA president Walter Deppeler moving to become chief marketing officer, and head of the China operations Oliver Ahrens replacing him.

Long-serving exec Deppeler will also lead global marketing and branding, assuming the responsibilities of Gianpiero Morbello who left in the summer along with other senior figures as Acer put its turnaround strategy into action.

"By strategically placing the executives in positions that amplify their core capabilities, Acer expects to enhance operating efficiency and fortify overall competitiveness very soon," the Taiwanese firm said in a PR blurb.

Only this week, it emerged that UK boss Bobby Watkins is the latest high profile figure to exit the business. He is set to be replaced by Neil Marshall, currently director of global sales and marketing transformation.

Deppeler has survived the cull, despite being seen by many internally as former CEO Gianfranco Lanci's right-hand man, and became EMEA president following the change at the top.

"In this short period, he effectively lowered the region’s channel inventory and stabilised the organisation," Acer claimed.

Distributors told El Reg that Acer stock levels in the UK have cleared dramatically and hope the firm realises the limitations of the channel stuffing model that helped the firm reach the dizzy heights of the PC market but caused its downfall in 2011.

Only last week, Acer revealed that losses narrowed in Q3 after a disastrous Q2 when it was hit by $150m worth of inventory anomalies.

Ahrens was formerly country manager at Acer Germany for three years until 2006. He then took on an interim role to turn the Austrian operation around, while also heading the EMEA peripherals biz.

He became corporate veep and president of Acer China operations in April 2009. President of Acer Taiwan Scott Lin will concurrently serve as boss of China.

The changeover happens with immediate effect and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. ®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like