Lenovo Taps Acer Ex-CEO Gianfranco Lanci As New EMEA Head

Currently, the company’s PC division is split into three units: Mature Markets, Emerging Markets, and China. The reorganization will take place on April 2, and is said by Lenovo to be a purely structural change, rather than a strategic one.

"Our new organizational structure will accelerate our end-to-end operational speed. It will help us deliver on our strategy in every market," said Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang in a statement. "Combined with continued focus on strong execution, this will enable us to continue our great performance and put Lenovo in position to achieve our long-term objective of being a global leader in PCs, mobile devices and innovative personal technology."

Lanci has been a consultant with Lenovo since September, working to boost the PC maker’s consumer and channel presence within Western Europe. He also facilitated the integration of German PC maker Medion after Lenovo acquired the company in a $670 million deal in June.

Before Lenovo, Lanci had a 14-year run at fellow PC maker and Lenovo rival Acer, where he became CEO in 2008. He stepped down from the role in March, however, after struggling to "reach a consensus" with the Acer board. According to statements from Acer, Lanci’s roadmap for the company simply wasn’t aligning with the board’s.

"On the company's future development, Lanci held different views from a majority of the board members, and could not reach a consensus following several months of dialog," Acer said. "They placed different levels of importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation."

Lanci’s guidance, however, seemed well received by Yang’s Lenovo, who praised the former CEO upon his onboarding in September. "As a consultant to us, Gianfranco brings years of expertise and insights to Lenovo that will help us strengthen our growing global consumer business," Yang said in a statement.

In addition to Lanci, Milko Van Duijl, current head of the Mature Markets segment at Lenovo, will head the company’s new Asia Pacific and Latin America unit. General manager of North America David Schmoock and general manager of China Chen Xudong will maintain their roles within their respective geographical units.