Moncton-born computer executive will oversee a division that spans 30 countries with thousands of employees.

Moncton-born computer executive David Booth has come out of the merger of digital giants

Hewlett-Packard and Compaq with a new job he says will give him the opportunity to expand new markets
and international business experience.

"It’s a great new opportunity," Booth said in a telephone interview from Toronto this week. Booth was recently named vice-president and general manager of Hewlett-Packard Canada’s network and service provider division for all of North American and South America. The appointment comes as the merger between the two companies was finalized.

On Monday, Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive officer Carly Fiorina celebrated the merger by remotely ringing the bell to open trading at the New York Stock Exchange. The "new HP" was launched yesterday.

Following the merger with Compaq Computer Corporation, Hewlett-Packard now has approximately 145,000 employees and a business presence in more than 160 countries. Its mission is to invent technologies and services that drive business value, create social benefit and improve the lives of customers. The company’s headquarters is in Palo Alto, California.

Before the merger, Booth was president and managing director of Compaq Canada Corp., responsible for the overall operational activities of the company.

Booth said that after the merger was announced, he looked at several opportunities within the new company. In the end, he settled on a position that will allow him to do business on an international scale while operating from a headquarters in Toronto.

"One of my conditions was that I not uproot my family," said Booth, whose rise up the career ladder has seen him live in Canada, the United States and Europe.

The new position brings with it the opportunity of profits and the risk of loss. His division has thousands of employees in research, development, sales and marketing.

The network and service provider market division is directly involved in developing new hardware and software for use in the telecommunications, cable television, media and entertainment industries. Some of the projects include streaming video for cable and computer animation for films. For example, he said the popular films Titanic and Ice Age used animation that was rendered on Compaq computer equipment.

Booth said a major growth area in the computer market are the hand-held cellular phones that include everything from calendars and video screens to web-surfing ability. While the development of new products of this type are important, equally important are the computers that support this technology.

"The mobile technology and telecommunications market is exploding with so many new devices. We’re going to be a leader in that market, not so much in the content but in the back end infrastructure that supports it."

Creating technology that allows customers to use their advanced "thin client" devices more effectively is a growth market.

"It’s going to be a really cool job that allows me to run a large business and get the international experience that I need. I’ll be doing business all over the United States, Canada and Latin America."

He said he will be brushing up on his Spanish and Portuguese, now that his territory includes 30 different countries.

Meanwhile, Booth was recently named to the Report on Business magazine’s "Top 40 Under 40." He also received the CEO of the Year award from the International Association of Business Communicators.

"I never won an award in my life and all of a sudden I got two," he laughed.

The high-level positions and awards are a long way from Booth’s early years in Moncton, when he worked as a bouncer at a downtown nightclub to pay for his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Mount Allison University. Booth got his start in the computer business at a small retail store in Moncton in the early 1980s, eventually working his way up to president of Compaq Canada.

Over his 13 years in the United States and Canada with Compaq and Digital, Booth has served in a number of executive and sales and marketing management roles. He began his career in the high technology sector in 1984 as a sales representative with ComputerLand Canada in Moncton.But he hasn’t forgotten his roots in Moncton, nor his underlying rule that everyone deserves fair treatment, no matter what their station in life.

"Every person is unique and I’ve be blessed that I like to get to know people and get to work with people," he said, talking on a cell phone as he passed through customs as the Toronto airport, apologizing for the beeping noises in the background.

"I think everyone deserves common courtesy. It’s one of those core values. People generally respond to people who treat everybody equally  Everybody deserves to be treated that way.

"I think personal contact is still very important in everything that we do. Look into the whites of the eyes of the person you’re dealing with and shake hands firmly. It goes a long way and it’s one of those certain core values that everyone in business needs."