EXHIBIT 99.1
Gartner, Inc. Announces Two Senior Executive Promotions
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Maureen O'Connell Named to New Position of President, COO; Chris Lafond
Promoted to Executive Vice President, CFO
STAMFORD, CONN., October 1, 2003-- Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB), the world's
leading technology research firm, today announced the promotion of two senior
executives in an expansion of its corporate leadership team.
Maureen O'Connell has been named to the new position of president and chief
operating officer, with responsibility for all business units, and sales and
marketing functions, effective immediately. Ms. O'Connell, 42, served for the
past year as executive vice president, chief financial and administrative
officer. In addition, Christopher J. (Chris) Lafond, 38, has been named
executive vice president and chief financial officer.
"I am delighted to announce these timely and much-deserved promotions of Maureen
and Chris," said Michael D. Fleisher, Gartner chairman and chief executive
officer. "Maureen O'Connell has been a key leader in our programs this year to
deepen customer relationships and configure products and services in
anticipation of an upturn in the tech sector in 2004. In addition, her broad
experience in finance, publishing and marketing prior to joining Gartner has
strengthened our leadership team."
"Chris Lafond is well-prepared to succeed Maureen in leading our corporate
finance operations as CFO," Mr. Fleisher said. "He has capably led Gartner's
worldwide finance operations this year, in addition to serving as chief
financial officer for North America and Latin America for two years."
Since September 2002, Ms. O'Connell has been responsible for Gartner's worldwide
finance, legal, tax, treasury, business development, human resources, workplace
infrastructure, strategic pricing, investor relations and internal audit
functions, as well as having direct client responsibilities. Prior to joining
Gartner, she was executive vice president and chief financial officer at Barnes
& Noble Inc., where she successfully led a number of significant financial
transactions, including the issuance of a convertible bond, an initial public
offering, several acquisitions, and a revolving credit facility.
Ms. O'Connell was chief financial officer at Publishers Clearing House, a $1
billion direct marketing company, from 1998 to 2000, and held a similar position
at BMG Direct, the direct marketing unit for music clubs at Bertelsmann AG. From
1990 to 1997, she was instrumental in developing the financial infrastructure
and evaluating and integrating acquisitions at Primedia Inc., a leading media
and publishing company. She began her career with Coopers & Lybrand, the
accounting firm, and Equitable Financial Companies. Ms. O'Connell holds a
Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and economics from the Stern School of
Business at New York University, and is a certified public accountant.
Mr. Lafond has held positions of increasing responsibility in financial
administration since joining Gartner in 1995. As CFO for Gartner North America &
Latin America, his responsibilities included finance operations, facilities and
information technology infrastructure. He previously was group vice president
and corporate controller, and has held positions as vice president and assistant
controller, and vice president of finance.
Prior to joining Gartner, Mr. Lafond was a senior financial planner at
International Business Machines Corporation, in White Plains, N.Y., and an
analyst in fixed-income asset management at J.P. Morgan Investment Management.
He received an M.B.A. in finance and accounting in 1991 from the Columbia
University Graduate School of Business, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in
economics from the University of Connecticut.
About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,000
clients leverage technology to achieve business success. Gartner's businesses
are Research, Consulting, Measurement, Events and Executive Programs. Founded in
1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and has more than 3,800
associates, including approximately 1,000 research analysts and consultants, in
more than 75 locations worldwide. Revenue for calendar year 2002 totaled $888
million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements regarding the Company's business outlook,
the development of the Company's services and the demand for the Company's
products and services. These statements and all other statements in this release
other than the recitation of historical facts are forward-looking statements (as
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Such
forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties; consequently, actual
results or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied thereby.
Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements set forth herein include, but are not limited to:
ability to expand or even retain the Company's customer base in light of the
adverse current economic conditions; ability to grow or even sustain revenue
from individual customers in light of the adverse impact of the current economic
conditions on overall IT spending; the duration and severity of the current
economic slowdown; ability to attract and retain professional staff of research
analysts and consultants upon whom the Company is dependent; ability to achieve
and effectively manage growth; ability to achieve continued customer renewals
and achieve new contract value, backlog and deferred revenue growth in light of
competitive pressures; ability to integrate operations of possible acquisitions;
ability to carry out the Company's strategic initiatives and manage associated
costs; ability to manage the Company's strategic partnerships; rapid
technological advances which may provide increased indirect competition to the
Company from a variety of sources; substantial competition from existing
competitors and potential new competitors; risks associated with intellectual
property rights important to the Company's products and services; additional
risks associated with international operations including foreign currency
fluctuations. Forward-looking statements included herein speak only as of the
date hereof and Gartner disclaims any obligation to revise or update such
statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances. Other risks may
be found in Gartner's reports filed from time to time with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the Company's Transitional Report on Form 10-KT
for the three-month transitional period ended December 31, 2002. These filings
can be found on Gartner's Web site at www.gartner.com/investors and the SEC's
Web site at www.sec.gov.
Contact:
Allison Haines
Gartner
+ 1 203 316 6216
allison.haines@gartner.com
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Investor Contact:
Heather McConnell
Vice President, Investor Relations
+1 203 316 6768
heather.mcconnell@gartner.com
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www.gartner.com/investors
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