Lenovo's Aussie boss hunts for new job

Lenovo’s departing Australia and New Zealand boss Alan Munro will put himself at the mercy of the industry when he steps down at the end of the month.

Munro told iTnews he will end his nine year stint at Lenovo “on a high” when he steps down on March 31.

Matt Codrington, Lenovo’s transactional business leader for A/NZ who joined the local team several months ago, will take on the role in the interim.

Munro told iTnews the idea to move into a new role had been playing on his mind for almost a year. He joined IBM in 1986 and took its PC unit over to Lenovo upon its acquisition in 2004.

He said he had built up skills and experience that were transferable and had decided it was time to use them. He said he’d prefer to go out on a high after Lenovo last quarter recorded its highest ever market share in its Asia Pacific/Latin America region, of 11.3 percent.

“I felt like it was time and I’m still young enough to apply my skill set elsewhere. I haven’t got anything solid, but I’ve got a lot of ideas,” he said.

“I felt I wanted to go out at the top rather than grow old and die slowly in the role, that’s not something that interests me. It wasn't an easy decision, leaving when the company is going well.”

Munro is not planning time for a break, and instead will hunt down new opportunities in start-ups, boards and the corporate field. He said he would stay in the technology industry.

“Technology is what I know and I really like it. It’s where I’m from and it’s been my whole career, and it’s what interests me. I read the IT press every day,” he said. 

“I’ve been on the board of the ANZRP [Australia and New Zealand Recycling Platform] for the last two years since that started up, and unfortunately I’ve had to resign because I won’t be at Lenovo anymore. That’s given me an insight into board activity so I’m interested in that.”

“I’m interested in start-ups. I basically started Lenovo here - even though it was a sizeable business, it was like a start-up,” he said.

“And on the corporate side, the PC industry is so fast-paced, the discipline I’ve got from that could apply itself in the corporate world as well.”

He said good experiences at both Lenovo and IBM meant he’d even be interested in working for one of the rival companies he’s spent 26 years fighting.

“I wouldn’t say no to anything,” he said. “I’ve spent my time fighting those guys so it’d be interesting to work for them. 

Of his interim predecessor Codrington, Munro said the company would be in good hands even though it might be a “little early” given the new GM only came on board a few months ago.

“But in this industry you’ve got to be flexible.”

Codrington spent the last four years as general manager for partner sales in Lenovo’s Japan office. He first joined Lenovo as its Asia Pacific director for notebooks, consumer products and enterprise systems group.