THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210575
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
nView Corp. founder James H. Vogeley stepped down as the company's president and CEO Tuesday to focus on researching and designing new products, the company announced.
Vogeley will continue as the company's chief technology officer, while Robert D. Hoke will become president and CEO.
``Fundamentally, I'm not highly inclined to be president and CEO,'' Vogeley said. ``I'm an entrepreneur and I have technological expertise, but the size of business we are, I think Bob is ideally suited for that.''
Executive vice president and chief operating officer Joel A. Carney also resigned from nView, which designs and manufactures electronic image projectors and related items.
The management changes continue a string of similar shakeups at nView in the past few years as the company has tried to create a sturdy organization that can help its products gain prominence in a competitive field:
Hoke, formerly a manager at technology giant Hewlett Packard, has been on nView's board of directors since 1992.
Vogeley had been president and CEO since late 1993, when then-CEO William M. Donaldson resigned after several lackluster quarters.
Carney took over as executive vice president, chief operating officer and director last July.
The announcement of Carney's resignation came just hours after that of Hoke's appointment. Scott & Stringfellow Inc. analyst George Shipp suggested Carney could have been disappointed at being passed over for the top job at the company.
The reshuffling makes sense, Shipp said, but may add to the impression of instability at the company.
``There's an appearance of a revolving door in the executive suite and it's somewhat disconcerting,'' Shipp said. ``Individually, each and every move has made sense to me, but as a package you take all these together and scratch your head and wonder what's going on.''
Vogeley said he has aimed to stabilize the company, although it has taken some time.
``I think if you go back you can see that I'm filling out the organization with the appropriate people,'' he said.
He wants to focus his efforts on helping the company make its next technological leap - digital light processing, which nView is working on with Texas Instruments.
``This isn't just an incremental growth in a product category,'' Vogeley said. ``It'll be a whole new product category.'' by CNB