History 2000: Who Is Patrick Martin, New StorageTek CEO ad COB?

Patrick J. Martin, 59, the new president, chairman and CEO of StorageTek, is going to have to show what he’s made of.

He comes from Xerox, where he worked for 23 years, ending as president of North American solutions, heading an $8 billion 35,000-employee group.

What he has never been, however, is CEO or COB, nor has he any previous experience in the storage industry, in which StorageTek is one of the oldest and most prestigious players.

StorageTek, recall, announced last February that his predecessor, David Weiss, 55, would step down, then launched a search for his replacement.

Martin is the 4th person to head the company following on the heals of Jesse Aweida, one of the firm’s founders in 1969, currently at the head of Benchmark Tape Systems, Ryal Poppa from 1985 to 1996, followed by Weiss.

Had anyone even heard of Martin, who must attempt to cut through the wake surrounding the company and guide it back to port? The only other Patrick Martin we could think of was the greatest French waterskiing champion of all time.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 151 on August 2000 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.

Note: Martin retired after the completion of the Sun-StorageTek merger in August 2005.