Intel CEO Search: Diane Bryant Is the Right Pick

by Jim Lundy

Intel’s quarterly earnings have come and gone and they are still no closer to naming a new CEO. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was forced to resign in June 2018 and current Intel CFO Brian Swan is serving as intern CEO. This blog highlights Diane Bryant and the probability of her becoming Intel’s CEO.

Diane Bryant Is the Right CEO for Intel

Diane Bryant quietly left her Google Cloud COO job at on July 3rd. She had been there since November. As many know, Diane Bryant built her career at Intel and was known as someone that executed and ran a number of divisions. Intel is under siege from others such as ARM and given the complexities of the semi-conductor business, few would come in and be able to execute. Part of the challenge for any CEO who goes to Intel is that they have had continuous delays on new product rollouts.

Intel Processor Delays

As many know, Intel missed the mobile era; Apple went with ARM and many others went with Qualcomm for their chipsets. Intel keeps running up against delays—most notably relative to their supplier relationships with Apple and other PC manufacturers. Intel’s Coffee Lake chipsets have been continuously delayed, but are now rolling out. Given Diane’s strong knowledge of Intel, we feel that she could solve some of the time to market issues and also potentially repair relationships with partners such as Apple.

Intel Needs Leadership in an IoT Era

Diane would be the ideal leader for Intel. As an insider, she knows the people to surround herself with and since she has been pretty involved with partners, she knows what outside talent to bring in to restore Intel to a leadership position. However, this might pose certain challenges since Intel has, by some standards, a challenging culture.

The IoT era, with the demand for real-time edge computing, offers an opportunity for Intel that comes down to accelerating operations and restoring a growth trajectory. Diane is an insider who left. The question is, can the Intel board make the right call and recruit her to come back?