A few hours ago Intel’s Graphics Marketing Chief Chris Hook confirmed that he has left Intel for pastures new. Tweeting in reply to PC World editor Mark Hachman, Hook indicated that he was following closely in the footsteps of other senior Intel Graphics marketers Heather Lennon (ex Senior Marketing Manager for Intel Graphics) and John Carvill (ex Vice President of Marketing, Technology Leadership at Intel).
Hook, Lennon and Carvill
What is the reason this top exec exodus from Intel Graphics marketing? At the time of writing it's hard to know if the movement was caused by something happening at Intel or simply an unhappy coincidence that these execs found more attractive opportunities at around the same time.
We do know that John Carvill was lured by the gravitational pull of hot new chip startup Nuvia. As we reported a few days ago, Nuvia has set its sights on the Intel / AMD data centre hegemony and raised significant amounts of cash to fuel its aims. At that time Carvill was already installed as the startup's VP of marketing and he asserted that the first clean-sheet product from Nuvia was "built for performance leadership - full stop".
Semi-Accurate's Charlie Demerjian provides some further insight into the reasons behind Hook's and Lennon's moving motivation. "Both are going to a startup," wrote Demerjian. "Something that seems to be the in thing to do in Silicon Valley of late." Looking back at the HEXUS news archives, it appears graphics marketing veteran Hook left AMD to join Intel only 18 months ago. He had worked at ATI/AMD for almost 17 years before that.
With Intel hoping to launch Arctic Sound and Ponte Vecchio in the near-term would seem important that it can fill these marketing voids with major talent rather sharply.
