When Mark Hurd was hired as Hewlett-Packard Corporation's (NYSE: HPQ) CEO back in 2005, few predicted he would suavely make HP the world's largest computer maker by using swift cost-cutting, a relentless focus on operations, and a laser-focus on growing every possible facet of HP's business.

One of the few things that Barack Obama and John McCain agreed on during last night's televised debate was that billionaire Warren Buffett would make a good Secretary of the Treasury.

Odds are that the universally respected Buffett won't take the job. Why does he need the headache at this point in his life? Besides, he may not be the type of government official investors would like. Much to the horror of political conservatives, the Oracle of Omaha is backing Obama. He has come out against such bedrock Republican principles as abolishing the so-called death tax on inherited wealth. The financial disclosure requirements alone probably are enough to scare Buffett away from government service.

To counter Obama's Buffett card, McCain said that former eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman might be the right person for the job. I guess no one mentioned to the Arizona senator the massive layoffs planned by the online auctioneer. Interesting how another McCain supporter, ex-Hewlett Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ) Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, did not merit consideration. Given her disastrous tenure, it's no wonder.

Another good potential Treasury Secretary neither brought up is Michael Bloomberg. The founder of Bloomberg LP (where I worked for seven years) clearly knows the markets. He's rich and has shown savvy in navigating New York City's political landmines that Washington should be a walk in the park. Too bad he's got his heart set on a third time as mayor.

This post is part of a series on some of the most memorable companies that have disappeared.

Once upon a time, there was a computer brand called Compaq. It was one of the largest sellers of PCs in the entire world in the 1980s and 1990s. Then 2002 comes and Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) merges with the company. The end.

Well, sounds like a short-lived story, and in actuality, it was. Compaq existed for only 20 years (1982 - 2002) before being gobbled up by then-CEO Carly Fiorina of HP to make HP's market share as large as possible. Compaq was mostly thought of as a quality brand from many system administrators I talked to back in the late 1990s, although I heard more horror stories from consumers that owned Compaq PCs. Apparently, the "compatibility" and "quality" that made up the Compaq name wasn't jiving with many consumers who bought its machines.

Compaq, formed on a few dinner napkins in Houston by three former Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) executives, and became a force to be dealt with in the market for consumer PCs in the 1990s. In fact, it was one of the first manufacturers to dip its toe into making sub-$1,000 PCs, which are now commonplace with every PC manufacturer. The Deskpro, Systempro and Presario were all Compaq brand names, all the way until it merged with HP. HP still markets a few desktop and laptop systems as "Compaq" brands to this day, probably due to just having a few more flavors on the candy shelf for customers to choose over.

But, the name is all that remains from Compaq's 20-year history. Do you miss the company? If you owned one of Compaq's real machines (to this day), sound off below and let us know what you like and don't like about this vanished brand.

Let us know in the comments what you miss about Compaq. And be sure to check out other Companies That Have Vanished.

Over the past ten years, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)'s CEO, Meg Whitman, has had a love / hate relationship with eBay users. No matter what your personal thoughts are regarding Whitman, you have to give it to her; she did take eBay to levels no one would have dreamed possible just ten years ago.

Well, her tenure at eBay is coming to an end, and her next move is into politics, working high up in Senator John McCain's Presidential campaign.

Back in January, Whitman announced that she would be stepping down from eBay to pursue philanthropy and politics, and her first big step is going to be serving as co-chair of Senator McCain's national presidential campaign.

While we still have not reached the point of McCain being announced the official Republican candidate for the upcoming election, it is all but a forgone conclusion that McCain is going to be the Republican's choice for November's pivotal election in America. After a rocky eight years with George Bush running the show, the Republicans are definitely going to have their hands full with this year's election, and Whitman is coming on board to have a leading role in the campaign's financing and policy development.

When it comes to corporate leadership and stewardship, there is no better example in recent memory than Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ) CEO, Mark Hurd. After presiding over a very public corporate spying scandal in 2006, the former NCR lifer has brought HP back from the confused, muddling days of Carly Fiorina and into the tech and business spotlight.

HP has had a tremendous year in 2007 from a sales and profit perspective, which -- for a hardware company -- is no small feat. But also, Hurd has engineered larger sales from HP's software side with the Mercury Interactive acquisition, and has made the HP consumer PC business energized again with fresh designs, more retail exposure, and a solid marketing effort. In a manner of speaking, HP has thumped competitor Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) this year, as the latter has struggled with profitability, an accounting scandal, market share losses, and out-of-control costs. The exact opposite has happened to HP under Hurd's hand.

In surpassing IBM (NYSE: IBM)as the world's largest tech company this year (by sales), HP seems to be firing on all cylinders. Having covered many quarterly conference calls this year, there is not a single CEO I can think of that articulates company vision, strategy, sales prowess, and operational efficiency better than Hurd. All those variables and more are what makes a company successful, and a leader successful at leading the charge on all fronts.

For his efforts at turning around HP into the huge success it currently enjoys, Hurd is listed by Forbes as having been compensated to the tune of $15.14 million (2006 figures), which ranks him #91 on the overall list regarding total amount paid annually. Is he worth it? In terms of a CEO bargain, yes. Many (many) other CEOs have made way more than this for middling or disastrous performance. Hurd is definitely not one of them, and from this writer's perspective, he's earned every penny.

Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2007.

Former Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) CEO Carly Fiorina, who was ousted from the company in the midst of a bizarre saga of corporate espionage is back. She has signed on a contributor to the new Fox Business Network, and also sat down with Fortune for an interesting interview, responding to questions submitted by the magazine's readers.

Interestingly Fiorina, who was arguably the victim of a trend away from the imperial CEO, seems to be standing up as an advocate of greater shareholder rights:

Do you think CEO compensation is out of whack? - Terry Irish, Hudson, Mass.

Sometimes. CEO compensation needs to be voted upon by shareholders in terms of the policies that will be used. There can't be any hidden surprises, like, Whoops, we forgot to tell you about a $200 million retirement package. What we ought not to do is regulate or legislate CEO compensation.

She's exactly right, and has a lot of other interesting things to say in the Fortune interview. While her reputation took quite a hit in the wake of her untimely departure from HP, she appears to be rebuilding herself quickly.

When word of Carly Fiorina's hiring by the yet-to-be-launched Fox Business Network got out, you can bet that ousted CEOs started ringing up News Corp (NYSE: NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch.

Robert Nardelli is busy now at Chrysler LLC., but Gary Forsee has recently left Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to pursue other career opportunities as has former Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) CEO Kevin Rollins. Maybe former Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) Chief Executive Jill Eckert or former Motorola Inc. (NASDAQ: MOT) head Chris Galvin wants to be a talking head.

The former Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ) chief executive will no doubt be a lively television commentator. It's too bad that Bernie Ebbers, John Rigas, Dennis Kozlowski and Jeffrey Skilling are presently incarcerated. They were always good for a lively quote.

If anyone has any other suggestions for former corporate honchos that Fox should hire, let me know and I'll pass on your suggestions to Fox. Of course, they'll be ignored.

Carly Fiorina, former head of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), will be joining the new Fox Business Channel (still in pre-launch) as a contributor. Apparently, Rupert Murdoch's new business venture wants to take some glitz from competitor CNBC, as Fiorina has that in ample supply after gracing magazine covers for six years while at the helm of HP.

It's not that Fiorina did not know how to run a business (far from it), but the needs of a dynamic industry finally caught up with her in 2005 when HP's board ousted her in favor of current CEO and Chairman Mark Hurd. Hurd's done great things in his tenure with HP so far, as his operational finesse and cost control methodology apparently has set HP back on track from quarter after quarter of missteps under Fiorina's leadership. Many believe Fiorina's contribution to Hurd's current success is her lasting legacy at HP. That's fine, as there is probably some truth to that.

Fiorina, probably the most recognized female CEO ever, was more of a showperson than a hard-nosed business executive from many accounts -- something that ended up costing her a job. So when Fox News says that "Carly Fiorina is one of the foremost business leaders of our time," I have to disagree. There are multiple examples of more efficient and successful leaders, even in the last decade. Howard Schultz, Steve Jobs and Jack Welch (to a point, heh) are just a few.

When the Fox Business Channel launches, it will most likely be about glitz and glamour. The loudmouths the network already has in place on the Fox News Channel easily make this a verifiable premonition. We'll wait to see what substance is put forth before making further assessments. But, for someone who has a flair for the dramatic, perhaps Fox is Fiorina's rightful place.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is set to release Q2 earnings this Wednesday at 2pm PDT. The computing and services giant should have all its marbles in a row to have a very good Q2 after beating up on competitor Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) at the conclusion of 2006 and into 2007. What are the estimates? How about a $0.69 EPS figure, roughly the same estimate from the year-ago quarter? No losses here, although it will be interesting to see which parts of the company have contributed to the company's bottom line and which are dragging (if any). But with HP just bumping an already rosy outlook for Q2, the company may be sitting on cloud nine come Wednesday.

HP's current $121 billion market cap speaks highly of the company's effort to return aggressively to profitability, which has happened pretty widely under current CEO Mark Hurd. Although former CEO Carly Fiorina is receiving some of the credit for setting up some of the strategy that has enabled HP to change from a marketing company not making much headway into an operational and customer company that is, Hurd has executed on his expertise (logistics and operations) to cut costs where needed and partner aggressively with its customers (and sell hard) to ensure the company is as good as what it currently looks like.

At the same time, internal politics, spying and strife at HP seems to have mostly blown over, and the company hasn't lost focus and continues to grow at a very respectable rate. After overtaking Dell last year as the largest computer manufacturer in the world, HP became larger than IBM and claimed stake as the largest tech company in the world -- for now. Whether it remains there (or even blows past it) is certainly in Hurd's hands, but only future quarters will tell the tale. For now, HP is sitting pretty, and that position should remain come Wednesday, when I'll be liveblogging HP's Q2 conference call. Stay tuned!

There are two kinds of CEOs: innovators -- who come up with growth ideas -- and janitors -- who cut costs and instill discipline. There are times when it's best to invest in an innovator, and others when a janitor generates superior shareholder returns. What does this mean for stocks? Potential buys include Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG), and potential holds include Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

This thought came to mind after reading an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal's Alan Murray's new book -- Revolt in the Boardroom: The New Rules of Power in Corporate America. It's a measure of his clout that he got the front page [subscription required] -- albeit of the Saturday edition. Murray's argument is that "boring" CEOs are now on the rise "in the wake of ... Enron" (a hackneyed expression that should be banned from the journalistic lexicon).

Following journalistic convention, Murray extrapolates a trend from three cases. He argues that boards have appointed "boring" CEOs -- I call them janitors since they are the executive equivalent of a clean up crew that comes in after a rock concert -- to avoid their predecessors' scandals. He cites the "boring" examples of Jim McNerney at Boeing, Martin Sullivan at AIG, and Mark Hurd at HP. They can boost the stock price for a while by cutting excess cost and instilling process discipline.

But they often fall down when it comes to generating revenue growth ideas. This is where investors can benefit from an innovator CEO -- the archetype of which is Apple's Steve Jobs. For investors there are two problems with such innovators:

As Hewlett-Packard(NYSE:HPG) released solid numbers the other day, its shares sank a little after consistently skittish investors took some of the words from CEO Mark Hurd's mouth during the conference call and parlayed them into possible shakiness this next fiscal quarter. Well, that may be so -- and HP lost quite a few profit basis points while taking marketshare in its last quarter. But that is not the whole story on why HP has stormed back like a thunderbolt to squelch Dell's thirst for growth while becoming the largest tech company in the world --- surpassing even IBM.

Many can say that certain structures set up for former CEO Carly Fiorina have been exploited and improved upon by current CEO Mark Hurd, but I do not see it that way. Hurd's unique team mentality combined with a never-ending quest for the best growth and the absolute lowest costs within reason are the basis for HP's comeback recently. Hurd's dug in and has learned the business from the inside out, and being extremely informed and detail-oriented doesn't hurt either.

HP's consumer designs for notebook PCs --- which are in its largest-selling business segment of personal systems --- toast those by rivals like Dell and Acer in many respects. Hurd even spent a day on the floor of a Best Buy store to hear what consumers had to say about its products. That's dedication and probably gave him insight into the minds of actual customers -- something that most CEOs have no clue about beyond what studies and marketing departments state.

Will Hurd continue to make HP the premier tech player not only in PC and technology, but in services as well? IBM says that HP's commodity products are not that large of a threat. But if the products get the job done for consumers with considerable cost savings, then what is the difference between a costly and proprietary IBM system and an open-source HP system that performs the same tasks at a much lower price -- with services contracts being equal between the two? IBM and Dell best be on the lookout for where HP is going.

Carly Fiorina was one of my all-time feminist heroes, so when she was summarily dismissed by the board of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), I was a bit miffed. And when the Patricia Dunn scandal began to unfold, I wanted to believe she was innocent. Or at least, well, sane.

When I discovered the mountain of evidence against Dunn, also implicating Fiorina, I felt a little bitter. But always in the back of my mind I have to wonder, how is it that two of the very few powerful women in technology were the biggest casualties of the pretexting scandal?

The Wall Street Journal [subscription required] suggests it may not be random: after all, statistics wouldn't favor two powerfully-placed women being let go in as many years. If it smells like a chauvinist, and walks like a chauvinist... you know the rest.

But it's, of course, not that easy. Alan Murray examines the two women's behavior in the days, and months, following their respective firings and finds them both wanting.

This really comes as no surprise -- former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, who was pushed out of the company's top job a little over a year ago by chairwoman Patty Dunn, was park of the pack who tried to investigate press leaks at Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) as well. With former chairwoman Dunn (who is now indicted by the State of California for her part in HP's spying scandal) in the hot seat, one has to wonder if Carly is having her due. Well, not really -- her misplaced performance as a CEO was a mistake, although her finesse at sales and marketing (more emphasis on sales) shows a very strong track record in her career.

Carly's book, Tough Choices, is set to be released this coming Tuesday according to this Cnet article, although advance copies have been in the hands of scandal-happy reviewers already. One thing that seems interesting is the timing of the book. It coincides with the ongoing pretexting corporate spying scandal at HP right now, which resulted from leak investigations that initially started with Carly's authorization and under her watchful eye. Hmm.

This almost leaves current CEO Mark Hurd in the clear -- well, not quite. The current CEO has said that he was inattentive to some details about the ongoing corporate investigations, strange for such an operationally-minded CEO, and let some things get his approval without iron-clad due diligence on asking about the origins of the information. But, with the scandal now rocking the company having been started by a CEO predecessor -- insofar as just being approved, if anything -- Hurd will most likely stay perched atop the company where he has made significant changes and changed the once-declining fortunes of HP.

In the digital age, it's getting easier to investigate matters. As for Patricia Dunn , the former Chairman of Hewlett-Packard, she led an investigation that used some of these new-fangled techniques to snoop on the company's board. Now, it appears that some of the practices may even be illegal (that is, according to California's Attorney General).

Ironically, it looks like these e-investigation techniques are being used against Dunn. In fact, according to a Wall Street Journal piece, Dunn was fully-engaged in the investigation of the board – since the summer of 2005. And, yes, this comes from lots of internal HP emails (funny enough, it has been Dunn's contention that she has been hands-off with the investigation because of possible conflict-of-interest issues).

It even looks like the former CEO of HP, Carly Fiorina, was part of Dunn's investigation.

Other juicy tidbits: There was discussion to see if text messages of board members could be captured. Also, there was talk about planting informants at a couple news organizations, such as CNET.

True, Dunn had legitimate concerns about her board, which certainly had problems of leaking confidential information.

But, as more and more information about the investigation comes out, it appears that Dunn was too aggressive. In fact, some of HP's own experts had indicated to her that the investigative practices were pushing things too far.

Of course, this is now a moot point.

Basically, in the digital age, one thing is very clear: emails are forever. As the investigation at HP continues, expect more intriguing details to emerge.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

A company's board is supposed to represent the interests of the shareholders. True, this is not always the case, as seen with the meltdowns at Enron.

One key power of the board is to fire the CEO. It is very rare but can be effective. This happened when Charles Schwab returned to his company several years ago.

And there's the case of Hewlett-Packard in which the board unseated its former CEO, Carly Fiorina. Since then, HP has been a stand-out performer. While Fiorina had lots of vision it appears that HP needed old-fashioned operational skills. That's what the company's current CEO, Mark Hurd, has brought to the table. I did a recent piece on him for BloggingStocks.com: HP's Mark Hurd, the Next Jack Welch?

Now, according to a Wall Street Journal article, it looks like one of HP's board members took extraordinary means to rid Fiorina. That is, there were a variety of press leaks. According to an internal investigation by HP the leaker was George Keyworth, a member of HP's board for 20 years.

As a result the board decided to fire Keyworth. Interestingly enough he just said "no." But the board indicated it will not name him on the slate for the next annual meeting.

In fact because of this drama, another long-time board member Tom Perkins, resigned from the HP board back in May when the investigation was disclosed to the board.

All this would make for a good law-school exam question. On the one hand, a board member is held to extreme confidentiality. If there are problems dealing with a CEO the board member should take the necessary steps in accordance to the company's bylaws and fiduciary duties.

At the same time, it is Orwellian for a company to investigate the private matters of a board member. Basically, HP used pretexting, in which a private investigator calls a phone company and impersonates another person.

Is this really good corporate governance? If anything it is fairly creepy.

Given the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxely and excessive shareholder litigation, it is no surprise that companies are having a difficult time recruiting board members. And in light of HP's pretexting it certainly won't make things any easier.

The story is likely not to die down, either. After all, Fiorina has a new book coming out, Tough Choices: A Memoir.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.